If Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling, the U.S. Treasury will be unable to pay creditors and the U.S. will be in default. Some argue Treasury could continue making "priority payments" designed to protect the nation's credit rating. Others say that could undermine the confidence in the U.S. to meet its obligations.

China said safeguarding the U.S. debt is of "vital importance to the economy of the U.S. and the world."

Leaders of Asia-Pacific countries are wrapping up an economic summit in Indonesia. Much of the talk in the region over the weekend focused on the event's big no show: President Obama. Because of the partial government shutdown in the U.S., the president decided to stay at home and monitor developments.

Renee Montagne talks to David Wessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal, about the cost of the government shutdown, and the dangers of the threatened government default.

Millions of U.S. factory jobs have been lost in the past decade. Now, in North Carolina, high school students are being encouraged to think about taking manufacturing jobs. But this isn't the furniture-making or textile labor of generations past — it's a new kind of highly technical work in aviation.

Pirate Joe's, the Vancouver store that sells Trader Joe's products in Canada, has won a battle in its legal fight against the supermarket chain. A U.S. district court judge dismissed a trademark infringement lawsuit this week.

"Starting a conversation about capitalism is like walking up to a stranger and asking, 'Can I talk to you about Jesus?'" says artist Steve Lambert. The best way to talk about the C-word, he says, is to make it personal. His giant art installation in New York challenges passers-by to weigh in.

With the federal government partially shut down there was no September jobs report Friday, leaving some economists suffering data withdrawal. But sorting through unofficial numbers, most economists are fairly sure the labor market continued its steady, modest growth last month, adding perhaps as many as 180,000 jobs.

As the budgetary stalemate in Washington continues, many federally funded science projects are now on hold. Matthew Hourihan of the American Association for the Advancement of Science describes some of the effects of the funding impasse on research programs, from the CDC to NASA.