Experts who use the term are trying to cloak reality in Econo-speak. When you cut through the B.S., they're really saying that Fed officials are raising interest rates so people will lose their jobs, spending will slow and inflation won't get out of control. Just ask mortgage loan officers, dot-com employees and some of the others who are already getting laid off by the thousands. With interest rates going up, it trickles through everything. By almost any measure, consumers haven't been pinched on a widespread basis yet.
Most people can still find decent work for decent pay.
The stock market has rebounded substantially following a spring collapse. Interest rates have risen, but not to the double-digit rates seen in the 1980s. As a result, property values remain on the increase and most borrowers can still make their mortgage payments. But many experts predict this benign environment won't last. Either the economy will rebound from its recent weakness, prompting the Fed to raise interest rates even further than it already has.