Signs the Economy is Picking Up Steam

How can we really tell how the economy is doing?

After all - while one side is saying this, the other side continues to believe this, and nothing will change their minds (save a Kerry victory in the fall).

But here's how I can tell things are picking up.

When the economy goes in the tank, highly-qualified people have to take any job they can find to make ends meet. You see software engineers stocking shelves at WalMart, young lawyers working for document coding companies...that kind of thing.

Know how I know the economy is picking up? Because the telemarketers are sounding less and less fluent in English, and the customer service people I'm reaching via phone - even the American ones - are sounding less professional, less literate, they type slower - the whole nine yards.

We're not quite to the boom years of hiring out call center jobs to prison inmates, but we're not that far away.