Former White House budget directors David Stockman and Peter Orszag spar over the stimulus, healthcare, defense spending and whether President Eisenhower was a monetary genius in a debate moderated by Sir Harold Evans at the Thomson Reuters headquarters.

If you don’t want to watch the entire Newsmaker, here are a selection of clips:

U.S. should’ve let AIG fail

Looking down the budget hole

Stockman: Washington can’t be rescued

Here are the top economic releases expected this week, including the media forecast of analysts surveyed by Reuters and the last report figure. It also includes a snapshot of key figures for the world’s largest economies.

Hundreds of tanker trucks and railroad cars snake for miles through the vast landscape of North Dakota now. For his video diary, Reuters correspondent Ernest Scheyder drove into the Bakken Oil Express, a sprawling project at the heart of the state’s booming oil economy.

Watch more Rough Cuts episodes.

Nonfarm payrolls surged by 236,000 jobs last month easily beating economists’ expectations for a gain of 160,000. Unemployment fell to 7.7%, from 7.9 percent in January, the lowest since December 2008. Today features a double dose of graphics summarizing the NFP report and tracking unemployment over the last 5 years.

Italy’s stunned political parties searched for a way forward after an inconclusive election gave no one a parliamentary majority. Financial markets fell sharply at the prospect of a stalemate and threatening prolonged instability and a renewal of the European financial crisis. Today’s graphic is a snapshot of the Italian economy using eight key economic indicators.

Successfully outperform the competition and support your investment process with Thomson Reuters Datastream.

Is the worst of the euro zone debt crisis over? Will Europe’s economy bounce back or do a range of risks mean the outlook is gloomy?

The European Central Bank’s pledge to do whatever it takes to save the euro has taken some heat out of the debt crisis but policymakers have an enormous amount to do to secure the bloc’s future – in terms of closer economic integration and building a banking union – and there are some signs of unraveling.

The four-day Reuters Summit will press Europe’s top policymakers on their plans, hopes and fears and whether they expect the ECB to have to back up its words with actions. A corruption scandal in Spain and uncertainty surrounding the outcome of Italian elections only add more spice to the mix as will Britain’s uncertain future in Europe and more global questions such as whether the world’s major economies could slide into a currency war.

Learn more about the Reuters Euro Zone Summit (February 25-28 – Brussels, Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris and London). (more…)

Today’s graphic looks at the S&P 500′s road to new highs in 2007 and 2013 and three key economic indicators. What story do you think these charts tell about the US economy?

The U.S. Labor Department reported that the economy added 157,000 jobs in January and also published revisions to its payrolls data going back to 2008. In 2012 alone, 335,000 more jobs were created than previously reported.

The jobless rate rose to 7.9% in January. However, the percentage of unemployed who have been out of work 27 weeks or longer fell to 38.1% and the average unemployment duration dropped 35.3 weeks, the lowest since December 2010. (more…)

Will China’s rise lead to the end of capitalism? Will armies of robots replace the world’s workforce? And will China be able to block Facebook and Google forever? Risk expert Ian Bremmer and Dr. Doom, Nouriel Roubini give their 2013 predictions for politics and the economy to Reuters Digital Editor Chrystia Freeland.

Weak Japan economic data bolsters new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe more ammunition to push for big spending and easy money to salvage the world’s third largest economy from decades of deflation. Today’s graphic shows a snapshot of five years of Japan’s economy through four key economic indicators.