Why getting rid of debt ? I think that if your job is secure then on the contrary it seems like the perfect time to borrow as much as you can at fixed rates to benefit from inflation..
I was writing from the perspective of the debt-holder, that if you have expensive unsecured debt (and many poorer householders do), then as bills rise there is less disposable income to work with, debt payments eat a larger portion of outgoings and consequently is detrimental to quality of life.
If debt is not at a fixed interest rate then there's also the risk of interest rates going up, which we're seeing now. Theoretically a recession might help cap that, but it's a big gamble - an interest rate rise of, say, 5% would see an incredible amount of foreclosures. In the UK in the 80s, the interest rate topped 18% during a major recession and period of intense civil unrest.
If debt is not at a fixed interest rate then there's also the risk of interest rates going up, which we're seeing now. Theoretically a recession might help cap that, but it's a big gamble - an interest rate rise of, say, 5% would see an incredible amount of foreclosures. In the UK in the 80s, the interest rate topped 18% during a major recession and period of intense civil unrest.