Scott Horsley

As Jon Huntsman and his wife walked down Main Street in Concord, N.H., on Thursday, trailed by news cameras, a passerby asked, "Who's that?"

The question is not surprising for a candidate who's run no TV ads in New Hampshire so far, and who's polling at just 3 percent in the state. But Huntsman was undaunted Thursday morning as he addressed a "Politics and Eggs" breakfast at St. Anselm College.

When Texas Gov. Rick Perry was asked about Social Security during a campaign stop in Ottumwa, Iowa, last weekend, he didn't mince words. He suggested that younger workers who are required to pay into the retirement system are the victims of a government swindle.

"We need to have a conversation with America, just like we're having right here today, and admit that is a Ponzi scheme for these young people," Perry said. "The idea that they're working and paying into Social Security today, the current program, that it's going to be there for them, is a lie."

Nervous investors will be listening Friday to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks in Jackson Hole, Wyo., for clues to additional steps the Fed might take to shore up the sagging economy.

For the past three decades, central bankers, and the people who watch them, have been gathering each summer in the Rocky Mountain resort to do some deep thinking about the economy. Fiscal watchdog Maya MacGuineas, who has attended several of these meetings, says it's not just the view of the Grand Tetons that makes them special.

After a weekend dominated by Republican White House hopefuls, President Obama hit the campaign trail Monday.

The president kicked-off a three-day tour of the Upper Midwest in a specially outfitted bus with plans to visit small towns in Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, listening to voters' frustration with Washington, and venting some of his own.

Every day Congress spends bickering about the debt ceiling is a day lawmakers aren't tackling other problems. And that includes a sluggish economy that's left millions of Americans out of work.

For some in the current debate, the government's focus on budget deficits is a start toward a better economy. For others, it's a distraction from dealing with the real problems of unemployment. If lawmakers aren't careful, the deficit reduction deal could actually make the jobs picture worse.

Not Able To Focus On Anything Else