Soft landing

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Soft landing is a landing in which buoyancy is slightly decreased. In finance, it refers to a situation where a growth rate slows, but still remains positive.

As well as describing trends, it is commonly used when predicting future financial events - when the user believes that the current trend is unsustainable, and must slow down, but will not crash.

An example newspaper headline: "Soft landing forecast for house prices as rate hikes stem growth" - Business Report, South Africa 1 Feb 2007. As it stands, these forecasts have very little scientific value and there is not one single verifiable instance of a soft landing following an economic bubble. Similar claims were made repeatedly by vested interests (VIs) about the prospects for the housing market in The U.S. but there is now an almost unanimous consensus that the United States housing bubble is undergoing a significant market crash.

Alternative Meaning:

Mythological beast - impossible in nature, said to have been conjured up by the dread warlock Vestedium Interestus. Great powers of hypnosis over the gullible. Enslaves its victims for 40 years.