New York Times yesterday:

Reports Suggest Economy Is Warming Up

Reuters yesterday:

Leading Indicators Down for 5th Month

Go figure.

Actually, what seems to be going on is that things have been getting better recently -- the gloomier Reuters article says indicators of current and recent activity have been improving -- but measures of what's going to happen in the future are down. The Times article has a few charts that make even this liberal think businesses are doing better. But the Times also notes one or two flies in the ointment, such as this:

A weak labor market is still acting as a drag on broader price increases, eroding the purchasing power of workers. Average hourly earnings fell 0.7 percent in October in real terms, and are still 0.5 percent lower than in October last year.

Think that might just be one reason consumer confidence (one of the leading indicators cited in the Reuters article) is down?

We may be in a real recovery (at least for now), but it's a Bush recovery -- a recovery for your boss, not for you.