For weeks now, Clark has been discussing where the economy is headed. He's been giving you all kinds of measurements, some odd and some conventional -- how much gasoline truckers buy, what's going on with unemployment, in housing, with the auto market and more.

It's clear that we're reading tea leaves here. There's no direct indication of exactly where we're headed. Anytime you have a recession based on borrowing, that makes the recovery more difficult.

To complicate matters, a research group called the Conference Board reports that consumer confidence is plunging. Yet at the same time, economists who were asked in a new survey overwhelmingly suggested we're seeing a healthy economic expansion. There's some kind of disconnect here, right?

In yet another example of the disconnect, we're still not seeing anything other beyond temporary work job growth at a time when corporate America is reporting top-line profit increases.

Clark's best guess -- and it's only a guess -- is that we're in a classic recovery, but the jobs will lag behind because of the debt hangover. The same thing that made it tough going in makes it tough coming out.

People always say "huh?" when economists say things are rosy, yet there are few jobs to be had. It's been that way in every last recovery Clark has ever seen during his lifetime. After all the head-scratching, the jobs will come months and months later, ultimately vindicating the economists.

Clark's prediction? The job recovery will be decent, but not strong, and it will take all of the remainder of 2010 to ramp up. But it is coming.