The Northwest has long been a major source of exports. Timber and paper once dominated the Northwest market; these days, it's all about coal. Demand for coal has dropped in the United States, but the clamor for coal in Asia's growing markets has American companies lobbying for controversial coal terminals along the train tracks in Washington and Oregon to transport coal mined in Montana. Explaining this coal controversy is Ashley Ahearn, an environmental reporter for KUOW in Seattle, and a contributor to their "Coal in the Northwest" series.

Tonight, President Obama will unveil his plan for creating more jobs in America. Obama returned from summer vacation to the dismal news that the country gained no new jobs in August. Unemployment continues to hover around nine percent and it is likely to stay that way through 2012. While the U.S. faces a slow economic decline, countries like China and India are on the rise. "It makes no sense for China to have better rail systems than us, and Singapore having better airports than us," the president noted in his speech following the 2010 midterm elections. "And we just learned that China now has the fastest supercomputer on Earth — that used to be us."

In the 2009 movie "Up in the Air" Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney, tells viewers that "all the things you probably hate about traveling are warm reminders that I am home." Bingham and his colleagues built their lives around air travel. "Aerotropolis: The Way We'll Live Next," argues that the cities of the future must do the same.

High food prices have lead to violent riots in Mozambique, where seven people have been killed. Food and water costs have also risen. And food security is a world-wide problem, with wheat and meat prices rising globally. BBC business reporter, Tim Jenkins, says he's noticed this trend for a few years and explains a new U.N. Food and Agriculture survey, which shows that beef prices, poultry prices, and lamb prices have all reached new hights.

It might seem that globalization is a continuing and ominous threat to America's workforce. New York Times business correspondent Micheline Maynard, however, says foreign companies can help American communities — especially as they hire Americans in tough economic times. Maynard is the author of a new book "The Selling of the American Economy.” We're also joined by Amy Lindsay, a former Estée Lauder employee, now a factory worker for Toyota in Indiana. She tells us about her own experience switching from an American employer to a foreign one. Our own Todd Zwillich gives us an insider's view on the recent congressional decision to extend unemployment benefits again.