I like your practical take.

There was a 'market correction' a few years ago (2018?) here in the bay area, CA. It was ultimately the result of multiple unicorn IPOs at companies that weren't profitable and still running on VC funds. (At least that's my interpretation)

To people here, they thought it was a sign of bad times to come, but the rest of the country barely noticed it.

Ever since then, they've been predicting another recession, but haven't been right yet.