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Among the guests at President Obama's jobs summit on Thursday, formally called the "Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth," will be Eric Schmidt, the head of Google, and Disney chief Bob Iger, according to a partial list released by the White House.

Also on the list is Nobel Prize winning New York Times columnist and Princeton economist Paul Krugman, pictured at left.

The White House expects approximately 130 attendees for the forum. Here's the list of confirmed attendees, which includes representatives from major companies and non-profit groups, small business owners, elected officials, union heads and academics:

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to hear some harsh criticism this week when members of a congressional panel consider whether to support President Obama's nomination of Bernanke for a second term. To defend himself, the Fed chief can at least point to a new list from Foreign Policy magazine naming Bernanke the top "global thinker" of 2009.

In its first annual list of 100 thinkers who formed "the big ideas that shaped our world in 2009," Foreign Policy honors Bernanke with the top spot "for staving off a new Great Depression."

"The Zen-like chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve might not have topped the list solely for turning his superb academic career into a blueprint for action, for single-handedly reinventing the role of a central bank, or for preventing the collapse of the U.S. economy," according to the special report. "But to have done all of these within the span of a few months is certainly one of the greatest intellectual feats of recent years."

The magazine lists President Obama as the no. 2 "global thinker," "for reimagining America's role in the world."

"He is an unapologetic wonk with a professorial bearing, a 'radical incrementalist' (in the useful term of his detractors) who assesses, seeks advice, considers, seeks counsel again, and then tinkers. He is also a president with big ideas, particularly in his foreign policy," according to Foreign Policy.

The third "thinker" listed behind Bernanke and Mr. Obama is Iranian political scientist and reformer Zahra Rahnavard, "for being the brains behind Iran's Green Revolution and the campaign of her husband, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi." The rest of the top 25 on the list include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, U.S. Central Command commander Army General David Petraeus, former Vice President Dick Cheney, journalist Malcolm Gladwell and Pope Benedict XVI.

Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics

** Now the real fight over health care reform begins...

** President Obama tackles unemployment...

** Sarah Palin rises in polls during her book tour...

HEALTH CARE: Democrats Saturday night squeaked by with 60 votes on a procedural motion to move the health care debate forward.

Still, writes Shalaigh Murray of the Washington Post, " Democrats had little time to savor their weekend Senate health-care victory, as two of the lawmakers who voted to move the debate forward Saturday night indicated Sunday that they will not vote to pass the package if it includes a government-run insurance program."

"Despite the success in the test vote, the fragile consensus in the Democratic caucus will face its greatest test yet as the health-care debate moves to the Senate floor and Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) struggles to stave off internal schisms. The cracks in the 60-member caucus are most obvious over the public insurance option.

"One member of the Democratic caucus, independent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), reiterated Sunday that he will oppose any bill that contains a public option. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," he called such a government-run plan 'radical.'

"Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), another centrist who supported the move to continue debate but has made it clear he has many objections to the legislation as currently written, restated his opposition to a public plan. 'I don't want a big-government, Washington-run operation that undermines the private insurance that 200 million Americans now have,' he said on ABC's 'This Week.'"

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It's another record-high for the U.S. National Debt which today topped the $12-trillion mark. Divided evenly among the U.S. population, it amounts to $38,974.34 for every man, woman and child.

Technically, the debt hit the new high yesterday, but it was posted on the Treasury Department website just after 3:00 p.m. ET today. The exact calculation of the debt is a 16-digit tongue-twister and red-ink tsunami: $12,031,299,186,290.07

This latest milestone in the ever-rising journey of the National Debt comes less than eight months after it hit $11 trillion for the first time. The latest high-point is not unexpected, considering the federal deficit for the just-ended 2009 fiscal year hit an all-time high at $1.42-trillion – more than triple the previous year's record high.

Much of the increase in the deficit and debt is attributed to government spending outpacing revenue – both exacerbated by the recession and the government response to it – including hundreds of billions in bailouts and stimulus spending and tax cuts along with decreased tax revenues due to rising unemployment.

In recent days, President Obama has spoken of the need to bring the rising deficit and debt under control.

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House Democrats would like to pass a jobs bill by Dec. 18, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters today.

With unemployment rates surpassing 10 percent, Democrats say they are getting input from economists on the most effective ways to get more people back in the workforce, CBS News Capitol Hill Producer Jill Jackson reports.

Democrats are considering a range of ideas, Hoyer said, including providing aid to states, giving tax credits to employers as an incentive to hire more people and extending unemployment benefits or the federal subsidy of COBRA health insurance benefits.

Hoyer also said highway spending is on the table. The White House is not interested in signing the full extension of the federal highway spending program this year, which could create thousands of jobs but be very costly.

While he "would not characterize [the jobs bill] as a second stimulus," Hoyer said "we will not have the kind of recovery we want" as long as jobless rates remain so high, Jackson reports. Hoyer added that the bill will be very targeted, but he could not say how large the package will be.

The White House announced this evening that an event billed as a "Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth" will be held at the White House on December 3rd.

"The forum will be an opportunity for the President and the economic team to hear from some of the best and brightest CEOs, small business owners, and financial experts about ideas for continuing to grow the economy and put Americans back to work," the White House said in a statement.

"During these difficult economic times, we have a responsibility to consider all good ideas to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country," President Obama said in the statement. "At the forum next month, I am looking forward to hearing from the private sector, from CEOs and small business owners and from Americans struggling to make ends meet on how we can work together to create jobs and get this economy moving again."

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(SHANGHAI, China) As President Obama makes his first trip to China as president, he faces some tough negotiations with the rising economic power of Asia.

The U.S. relationship with China is crucial to White House goals on some of its top priorities: de-nuclearizing Iran and North Korea, global climate change and reviving the economy. But, it is the economy that may be the hardest issue for Mr. Obama to deal with because China and the U.S. fuel each other's bad habits.

Of all the arcane terms for the issue -- currency manipulation, hard pegs, non-convertible currency or rebalancing -- what it really comes down to is a "mutually reinforcing drug addiction," said Mike Green of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Green explains how it works: "We get cheap goods, they get great exports and economy growth, they get stuck with a lot of dollars, they don't want their currency to be convertible because that would mean they lose control of domestic, social and economic and political tools, so they recycle it back to the U.S., we get to keep borrowing more money, and so the cycle goes on," he said.

In other words, the U.S. buys Chinese goods. We pay them in U.S. dollars. They don't put the U.S. dollars back into their economy through their currency, the Yuan, because it is not convertible. Instead, they use those dollars to buy U.S. treasuries, our debt -- more than one trillion dollars worth, more than any other country. By financing our debt, the U.S. can spend more money on stimulus, wars, health care, and the debt rises, and China buys more and more of it.

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Calling the nation's high jobless rates "a challenge my administration is absolutely determined to meet," President Obama announced Thursday he will hold a jobs summit at the White House in December.

"We all know that there are limits to what government can and should do," Mr. Obama said. "But we have an obligation to consider every additional responsible step that we can to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country."

The president announced the summit, to be called the Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth, moments before departing for a trip to Asia. Mr. Obama said he will work on a global economic strategy while abroad and will continue to make the nation's economic recovery the focus of his administration.

The U.S. unemployment rate for October surpassed 10 percent, hitting the double digits for the first time since 1983. Claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, but economists still predict a "jobless recovery" from the recession.

Acknowledging the hardship Americans are undergoing, the president said "even though we've slowed the loss of jobs... the economic growth that we've seen has not yet led to the job growth that we desperately need."

To address that, Mr. Obama said, the December forum will bring together CEOs, small business owners, economists, labor unions and nonprofit organizations to discuss job creation.

"It's important we don't make any ill-considered decisions... particularly at a time when our resources are so limited," he said. "But it's just as important that we are open to any demonstrably good idea to supplement the steps we've already taken to put America back to work."

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Even at 10.2 percent, the worst in more than a quarter century, the nation's unemployment rate has not topped out.

"More likely than not, it will get a little worse before it gets better," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs at his midday briefing today.

For months, the White House had been warning us to brace for a double-digit unemployment rate. It arrived this morning with a thud – like an anvil dropped from a 10.2-story building.

The jobless rate for October jumped four-tenths to 10.2 percent. President Obama calls it "a sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead."

Speaking to reporters in the Rose Garden, he was quick to point out that "job growth always lags behind economic growth." Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter moved back into positive territory last week at 3.5 percent.

Nevertheless, Mr. Obama and his aides point out that the economy lost fewer payroll jobs in October than it did the month before. Job loss for October totaled 190,000 – down from a revised 219,000 in September. The administration views that as a hopeful sign.

Christina Romer, Chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, says the numbers continue "the steady trend of moderating job loss that began last spring." (The White House posted a chart illustrating the trend is available on its Web site here.)

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New government figures show the economy grew 3.5% this summer, the first increase in a year and a sign that the recession is at an end. But there are other signs that this may be a jobless recovery.

The Obama administration is saying its economic stimulus and recovery packages have saved close to a million jobs. But the creation of new jobs has lagged.

"The great American job creation machine simply hasn't been generating enough jobs to absorb or offset what was really the greatest, deepest recession since the Great Depression," said Jared Bernstein, chief economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.

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