What is the appeal to consequences (and its "wishful thinking" form)?

Treating a claim as true or false based on whether its being true would be pleasant or unpleasant — reality doesn't bend to what we'd prefer.

The pattern: "If X were true it would be terrible, therefore X is false" (or "…it would be comforting, therefore X is true"). It fails because the consequences of a belief have no bearing on the fact of the matter — wanting something not to be true doesn't make it false.

"There can't be a recession coming — if there were, my retirement plans would be ruined."

How badly a recession would hurt your plans is irrelevant to whether one is actually on the way. The extreme version is wishful thinking: "I wish X were true, therefore X is true." Distinguish a prudential reason to believe (it would be nice / useful) from a rational one (evidence) — only the latter bears on truth.

Tip: "That would be awful, so it can't be so" is the alarm phrase — the universe is under no obligation to be convenient.