The problem in the United States is not the Federal Reserve, but risk perception

Some economists believe that the Federal Reserve’s rate hike s are the most serious threat to US growth. But we should not forget that these hike s have been expected for a long time, that they have not driven up long-term interest rates, and that interest rates remain markedly lower than the growth rate in the United States. In reality, the gr eatest threat to US growth is the increase in risk perception: it push es down the equity market and therefore trigger s negative wealth effects and leads to a widening of credit spreads . This drives up funding costs for US companies , leading them to stop share buybacks while reinforcing the slump in share prices. So the most important factor to predict US growth is not whether the Federal Reserve will hike rates once or not at all in 2019, but whether or not the degree of investor risk aversion - which is extremely high at present - will return to a normal level.