Is the Fed crushing the western economies?

The Federal Reserve won’t be able to get US inflation down to its 2% target without “crushing the economy,” economist Mohamed El-Erian warned, “You need a higher stable inflation rate of 3 to 4%, not 2%”. US inflation rose 0.5% in Jan to 6.4%. European inflation is at 8.5% & UK dipped to 10.1%. It is high and could become embedded into parts of the economy where it's hard to eradicate.

US Retail sales jumped by 3% in Jan - getting Americans to spend less is crucial to the Fed's anti-inflation campaign. According to Oxford Economics, there's still a lack of clarity on what exactly caused the situation to spin out of control, and what policymakers can do to fix it.

Goldman Sachs, in light of the stronger growth and firmer inflation news, is adding a 25bp (basis points) rate hike in June to the Fed forecast, for a peak funds rate of 5.25%-5.5%.