The Economist economics correspondent Ryan Avent updates us on the current economic situation and debt crisis in Europe.

Jobs, jobs, jobs. The day after Labor Day millions of Americans are wondering when their next chance for employment will come. The nation's unemployment rate stands at 9.1 percent and experts believe it's going to take years before it goes back down to normal. Ryan Avent, economics correspondent at The Economist, believes the number of jobs available could rise if a city's population density rises. He wrote in The New York Times about what other ingredients need to be mixed in with a dense population to create a healthy economy.

Yesterday the Federal Reserve announced it was buying $600 billion dollars in Treasury Bonds. We’ll find out why and what else is currently on the Fed’s swelling balance sheet on today’s Backstory segment. We’ll speak with Ryan Avent, online economics editor for The Economist.

James Fallows, National Correspondent for The Atlantic, and Ryan Avent, online economics editor for The Economist, look at how then U.S. midterms are playing around the world and at how the election could affect a number of global policy concerns: from the debate over China’s valuation of its currency, to EU austerity measures, to the prospects for an arms reduction treaty with Russia.