well, as you know you can watch any number of cable channels all day. and hear all sorts of wall street types talking about economic indicators. but we are going to make this a lot more simple. >> we're keeping our indicator very simple and very understandable. everyone's favorite, pizza. help yourself there, stage manager. that's my piece, i took a bite, enjoy that. john berman looks at what sales of pizza mean for our economy. >> reporter: a slice of heaven. a batch of bubbling beauty. a literal piece de resistance. >> really good. >> reporter: that pizza isn't just a beacon of gooey, cheesy goodness. no. it turns out these days pizza is delivering a taste of economic goodness. there are more than 65,000 pizza parlors in the u.s., with more popping up each day. and this year, americans ordered more than 5.5 billion pies.