Households have taken a clue from the drop-off in the stock market. The economy is weakening but not many of them have seen it in their own lives. Conditions are still fairly good, but there's a heightened awareness that the economy is at risk, and that can make people cautious.
The Fed is selling us a bill of goods. The Fed has plenty of evidence that the economy is boiling. They don't care. 'Let it boil,' they say.
With the U.S. economy hot and global growth accelerating, the issue of Fed tightening has become the conceptual equivalent of pondering a possible California earthquake. It's going to happen, but probably not tomorrow, and participants would rather not think about it.