With wars and uncertainty across the globe—and the US mired in political polarization and economic fear—the CONVERSATION casts a wide net from the US to China. China, the world's second largest economy, is showing fresh signs of weakening. The CONVERSATION asks pointed questions on the latest US economic growth numbers. US gross domestic product, surged at a 4.9% annualized pace in the third quarter, eclipsing the 4.7% estimate. Was it too good to be true? DICK BOVE, chief financial strategist at ODEON CAPITAL GROUP, explains why the headline number is a misreading of the true state of growth this past summer. Growth was milder than blockbuster. In part, that's because GDP for the third quarter is padded with inventory building.

Meanwhile, as American consumers pile on more debt, Capital One reports a rise in its customer delinquency rates. The CONVERSATION plays an electronic program that provides self-directed scenarios for hypothetically reducing America's balooning deficits, and national debt. "You have a revenue problem, where the US is going to run out of money. You have a spending problem where the US is going to run out of money," says MAT VAN ALSTYNE, co-founder and managing partner at ODEON, explaining the various options for bolstering America's fiscal health. "So, you can either cut spending, or increasing revenue, or do a combination of both." Our host, JOHN AIDAN BYRNE, urges restraint on reform of America's much cherished Social Security program. Elsewhere, BOVE offers more insight on his recent Open Letter to JP Morgan. BOVE also questions the official reason JP Morgan's CEO, JAMIE DIMON, is planning to sell one million shares of the company stock.

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