Right. It's a chicken and egg though. The Fed isn't just raising rates. They're also saying we have full employment, inflation is up, so we can begin to norm

Right. It's a chicken and egg though. The Fed isn't just raising rates. They're also saying we have full employment, inflation is up, so we can begin to normalize. Rates are still low and the increases are measured. Keeping them low would signal the Fed thinks something is wrong. EDIT: So far the small increases haven't had any adverse effects. If anything the opposite. So that's one counter-argument. The other thing to consider is that it's not the absolute rate or the derivative of the rate. It's the actions of the Fed vs. the market expectations. The expectation has been set for a long while that the Fed would try to normalize. If anything the Fed has not quite met the expectation. My last point is that the rates businesses borrow at are somewhat disconnected from the Fed rates, at times of higher perceived risk the premium vs. the Fed rate is higher. So the Fed raising rates doesn't necessarily increase costs to businesses.