I did not see that as a debate: it's been a one-sided conversation, with all the supposedly serious publications falling in line to argue that there would be a soft landing, and that the bears were doing silly scaremongering. Even today it is the case - as this Economist article suggests.

It amounts to self-serving self-suggestion: keep on spending money (to our profit) you don't have, all will be well.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes