All signs point to a strong recovery ... except those signs over there. They point to Armageddon.

In other words, it's business as usual on the economic front.

Here's proof -- two articles, published on successive days, citing separate economic reports.

The first, published on April 14 by the The Wall Street Journal, cites a Deloitte study in claiming that businesses won't hire until they see a jump in revenue of at least 20 percent -- even though corporate earnings have enjoyed double-digit growth over the past year and half.

"The quarterly survey ... found that nearly half of respondents would seriously consider adding employees if revenues rose 20 percent, but few would be moved by a 5 percent increase," writes The Journal's  Emily Chasan. "A 10 percent bump in revenue would only be a major hiring consideration for 11 percent of CFOs. Worse yet, perhaps, actual growth isn’t expected to reach such heights: Respondents estimate top line growth at North American companies will be just 8.2 percent this year."

But wait: The very next day, Business News Daily cited the American Express OPEN Spring Small Business Monitor while writing this: "Business owners are expecting to hire this year and make investments in capital improvements." For good measure, the article adds this: "Thirty-seven percent (of small business owners) expect to grow this year and 56 percent are willing to take a financial risk to do so."

Who's right?

Anyone have a coin? Heads, I win ...