I'm no economist. I'm getting this information from what I consider reliable sources.

"Inflation is a measure of the rate of rising prices of goods and services in an economy."

"Central banks of developed economies, including the Federal Reserve in the U.S., monitor inflation. "
...
"Typically, inflation results from an increase in production costs or an increase in demand for products and services."

In the U.S., all of this applies as a result of the pandemic and slow recovery from the pandemic.

"Cost-push inflation occurs when prices increase due to increases in production costs, such as raw materials and wages."

"Built-in inflation is related to adaptive expectations, the idea that people expect current inflation rates to continue in the future."

"...the narrative pinning blame for the economy’s woes squarely on Democrats’ shoulders elides the true culprit: the Federal Reserve. The financial earthquakes of 2022 trace their origin to underground pressures the Fed has been steadily creating for over a decade."
...
"It started back in 2010, when the Fed embarked on the unprecedented and experimental path of using its power to create money as a primary engine of American economic growth. To put it simply, the Fed created years of supereasy money, with short-term interest rates held near zero while it pumped trillions of dollars into the banking system. "
...
"It was the Fed that primarily dropped the ball on addressing inflation in 2021, missing the opportunity to act quickly and effectively as the Fed chairman, Jerome Powell, reassured the public that inflation was likely to be merely transitory even as it gained steam. And it’s the Fed that is playing a frantic game of financial catch-up, hiking rates quickly and precipitating a wrenching market correction."

David Moon, a local financial advisor, in a May 6, 2022 opinion article seems to agree with the New York Times opinion columnist.

"Even after this week, the Fed does not have good choices, but it can blame only itself. In the decade following the mortgage meltdown of 2008, the U.S. economy grew by 50 percent. Rather than using this period of strong economic growth to allow interest rates to drift upward to provide a cushion above inflation, the Federal Reserve continued its emergency quantitative easing program, pumping another $2 trillion into the economy and artificially depressing rates long after the emergency was over. Now that the economy needs a well-executed nudge, the Fed has little room to maneuver."

In a more recent article (June 10, 2022), Moon suggests that additional Federal Reserve rate hikes are necessary. "At its meeting next week, the Fed should raise the Fed Funds rate a full percentage point — twice the expected increase of a half-point."
...
"These actions would almost certainly drive stock prices lower, but they would disproportionately affect the least well off. Inflation has accurately been described as a tax on the poor — and the only path to break the back of inflation is a painful one."

Surely there is a softer landing for the "least well off." But, if those in power at the Federal Reserve haven't done anything over the decade when they could why would they care now? Sort of like the Republicans that refuse to apply better gun controls to stop the killing of children, grocery shoppers, church goers, etc.