Something is off, the world feels wobbly lately.

If you feel like you are in the Twilight Zone right now, you aren't alone. Food and gas prices are up, rent is up and help wanted signs are everywhere. The housing market doesn't seem so hot anymore. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association and The National Association of Realtors the demand for a mortgage is at a two decade low, yet home prices are still high. Is this a recession or not?

According to President Joe Biden the U.S. is not in a recession despite two consecutive quarters of decline.

But that seems counterintuitive to everything we've learned about economics. So what's going on?

The team at 5 Things sat down with Medora Lee, a money and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY to try to wrap our heads around just what is going on.

For more on the Fed rate hikes, click here.

To read more about annuities like Lee talked about in the episode, click here.

For more on 'revenge spending' click here.

To follow James Brown on Twitter, click here.

Episode Transcript available here

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