"If we don’t get this unemployment rate down, eventually it’s going to stick," former chairwoman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors Christina Romer warned on Monday's show. "We’re going to have discouraged workers, people who have lost many skills. They may have a higher unemployment rate forever after, and that would be a true disaster.”

New data this week from the analysis group Hedgeye shows that some of our favorite breakfast items like orange juice and coffee are rising in cost so much that they could be considered “luxury items.” Some are blaming U.S. monetary policy for this inflation, but our guest Louise Story from our partner The New York Times says it’s more complicated than that. This story, she says, is a little bit global warming, a little bit economic recovery, a little bit politics.

New data out by the United Nations shows that world food prices rose by 32 percent in the second half of 2010. Food prices for staples haven’t been this high in two years. The last time they reached these levels, food shortages sparked riots in poor nations. Is another food crisis on the horizon for struggling nations? And what does this mean for Americans?

The Fed yesterday called economic recovery "disappointingly slow," but there may be some optimistic news out today. Unemployment numbers released today place the unemployment rate holding steady at 9.6 percent, but nonfarm payrolls are up 151,000. Yahoo Finance economics editor and columnist Dan Gross deciphers the numbers for us, and tells us about what he calls "non-end-of-the-world-data-flow."

The economic crisis has been felt in most sectors of the economy, and among most communities as well. A year ago, we spoke about how one of the communities most negatively effected was the African-American community. Today we get another glimpse of that impact in the monthly report from the Labor Department. National unemployment for blacks in the third quarter of 2010 was at over 16 percent. Are we seeing a destruction of the black middle class? 

Every Monday, we take a look at the big stories in the week ahead. This week's Agenda, covers foreclosures, midterm elections, calls for UN peace keepers in  Sudan and the Nobel Prize in Economics.

The September jobs report comes out today; this month's report carries some special weight. For politicians, it's the last unemployment report Americans will hear about before the mid-term elections. For the Federal Reserve, it will affect policy when the it meets in November; many expect a loosening of monetary policy based on how the economy is faring.

Overall though, economists are predicting the September report will not show too much change in unemployment figures. Businesses are still slow to hire, but layoffs are not rising. There may not be much in the way of job growth, and many, many Americans are still unemployed, but fewer people are losing their jobs.

In a recession economy, all of us – including government agencies – are doing what we can to make ends meet, and that includes states' legal systems. A new report released by NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice reveals that states are imposing new court fees for individuals with criminal convictions. The fees are described as “user fees,” as they are not the traditional obligations levied for punishment, deterrence, or rehabilitation. Instead, these fees serve only to pay back the court system as it attempts to recoup operational costs.

This week we asked listeners to send us their haiku about the economy, and you responded in droves.  We also got one limerick by a listener calling himself "Dr. Goose."

The New American Dream

The Smiths of 212 Willow Lane
Thought their mortgage a terrible strain.
They defaulted and then,
moved next door to 210
Where they rent and are solvent a-gain.

We talk to listener David Lefkovits about how he started writing limericks for his blog, Limericks Economiques.

We've been asking you to call or text us your economic haikus and we've gotten some pretty amazing poetry. Today, Natasha Albornoz of Miami, Florida, joins us with her haiku and explains her motivation.  Natasha's haiku after the jump.

On the face of it, prices going down seems like it could be a good thing. However, as economists await Friday's monthly jobs report, they're worried about the dreaded deflation. To help get a sense from our listeners, we're looking for your personal jobs report: Do you feel secure in your job, if you have one? If you're still looking, has it gotten any harder? Easier? Let us know in the comments section below.

The commerce department revised growth figures for 2007 - 2009, taking down the numbers and essentially showing that the economy performed more poorly than was thought. The economy shrank at a rate of 2.6 percent last year; this is the steepest drop since 1956. On Wall Street, stock futures fell in the wake of this report.

Dan Gross, columnist for Newsweek and Slate says that there's a dichotomy. Things associated with business, industry, and global industry are strong, while anything tied to the consumer is weak. Personal consumption is only rising at 1.6 precent rate.

Existing and new home sales numbers for May came out this week, and they were nothing to get excited about. Economists and experts were blown away by figures announced by the Commerce Department on Tuesday. While a drop in sales was expected, no one expected the 32.7 percent nose-dive from the previous month's sales.

The U.S. economy gained 431,000 jobs last month, according to numbers released this morning from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.  Lakshman Achuthan, managing director at the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI), joins us to parse the numbers.

Stock markets around the world seemed jittery yesterday: The Dow Jones industrials dropped briefly below 10,000 before making up most of their loss. Since a recent high in April, the Dow has dropped nearly 12 percent. What does this number indicate about our economy? Is the market the end-all-be-all measurement of how our economy is doing?

Later today we expect to hear new national unemployment data which should offer economists a reasonable idea of where our economy is moving on a macro scale. But what about the smaller economic engines of America? How about the small towns in our country that may be largely sustained by a single industry or plant? Even if the economy, as a whole, were to make an unexpected recovery, that wouldn’t bring back the single manufacturing plant that sustaining some ten percent of its nearby residents, or the auxiliary economy that springs up around it like housing, restaurants, or shopping centers.

This year, the housing market dropped like a stone before slowing and gaining, somewhat. But how much longer until Americans feel ready to buy? We talk with housing expert Robert Shiller, co-creator of the Case-Shiller home-price index, to review 2009's housing downs and ups.

• Business Takeout:  Some financial analysts over at Moody's are suggesting that it's time for a new misery index.  New York Times finance reporter Louise Story drops by the show to explain the new formula and to calculate how miserable the U.S. economy really is...
• Washington Takeout: Todd Zwillich says the end of the year means crunch time on Capitol Hill - and the House is rushing to get some last minute things done.
  
• Equality Takeout: Patrick Madden, reporter for WAMU, reports on the D.C. city council's decision to legalize gay marriage ... as long as Congress goes along with it.

Yesterday, the President unveiled an ambitious plan to spur jobs, cut the national deficit and re-shape the foundations of the American economy. 

Managaging Director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute Lakshman Achuthan joins us to analyze some of the plans Obama outlined in his speech. We also bring in two small business owners who hope to benefit from the initiatives.  Dawn P. Jackson (owner of NuDawn Marketing Group in Maryland) and Walt Rowen (owner of Susquehanna Glass Company in Columbia, PA) discuss how their businesses would be affected by the proposed stimulus package. 

• Jobs Takeout: The U.S. economy shed 11,000 jobs in November, which is a much lower number than people expected.  Dan Gross, Newsweek columnist, joins us to unpack the statistics.
• Listeners' Takeouts: Listeners have written and called in about what changes they've undertaken to keep themselves employed.