How to know if the economy is "recovering" not so easy

Recommended article from CNN that talks about how to tell if the economic stimulus package is stimulating anything beyond the media and the politically punditry out there, which if our economy was stimulated by controversy and discussion? We'd never have problems...

So how will we know if it's working? What will be the signs? The president and economists say the biggest marker will be an improvement in the jobs picture.

"That's bottom-line number one, because if people are working, then they've got enough confidence to make purchases, to make investments," Obama said last week before the bill's passage. "Businesses start seeing that consumers are out there with a little more confidence, and they start making investments, which means they start hiring workers. So step number one, job creation."

The official benchmark estimates from the White House: 3.5 million jobs will be created or saved over the next two years, and over 90% of them will be in the private sector. (See the White House's state-by-state estimates of how many jobs could be created or saved in the map at right.)

But measuring the numbers of jobs saved as a result of the economic recovery package promises to be an elusive task.

This means if there is a measurable job growth, that may or may not be related to the stimulus package but could be related to the natural ebb and flow of the market place, it could be said the package is working. If there is no measurable job increase it could be said this package is a failure...

So basically? We will not know for some time if this worked, and when it does? Exactly what part of it did the most good...