Far from Goldilocks.

"The US Federal Reserve is raising interest rates for the first time since 2018 in an attempt to bring fast-rising prices under control. The US central bank said it was lifting its benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points and signalled plans for further rate rises in the months ahead," BBC. "Rate increases work to slow inflation by curbing demand for big-ticket items like houses, automobiles or home improvement projects that become more expensive to finance, which can also slow economic growth and potentially increase unemployment," Reuters. The Fed has reduced expectation of GDP growth from 4% to 2.8% in 2022, "expects inflation to remain at 4.3% this year, dropping to 2.7% in 2023 and to 2.3% in 2024, and "the unemployment rate is seen dropping to 3.5% this year and remaining at that level next year". "Essentially, the idea of full employment is that so few workers are available that companies begin raising wages to attract help," wrote Jay L Zagorski. Full employment is when the jobless rate is below the "non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment" or NAIRU. "At the moment the Congressional Budget Office puts NAIRU at 4.6%," which means "the US is at full employment - and that wages should be going up. But, until recently, they haven't gained much, which has puzzled many economists." Full employment with a growing economy and falling inflation means the US is as close to a "Goldilocks economy", ET, as it can get. India is just the opposite. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) the unemployment rate in India was 7.19% on 16 March 2022, 7.89% in urban areas and 6.87% in rural areas. The consumer price index (CPI) increased by 6.07% in February, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO), ET. The wholesale price index (WPI) jumped to 13.11% in February from 12.96% in January, TIE. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) was slightly higher at 1.3% in January after hitting a 10-month low of 0.7% in December, ET. "The inability of the industrial sector to recover on a sustained basis points to deeper problems such as weakness in demand and/or supply side issues," said Sunil K Sinha. Demand is low because people cannot afford sky-rocketing prices. "Oil price movement in the coming months will dominate the inflation trend, and the recent spike in prices, if sustained, will post downward risks to growth estimates," said the Ministry of Finance. Crude oil prices have been low since 2015 and have gone up only recently, The Balance, while the cost of petrol in India has been rising inexorably, mycarhelpline.com. Because of sky-high taxes, helping the Center to earn an eye-watering Rs 8.02 trillion at our cost, ET. "A chorus is growing among Indian monetary policy officials that the central bank's outlook on inflation and growth is being overtaken by events, including war in Ukraine" ET. All these pundits are bemused when Indian consumers were seeing current inflation at 9.7%, at 10.6% in 3 months and at 10.7% in 1 year, in January, Quartz. The Ukraine war started on 24 February, wikipedia. We are not victims of the war in Ukraine. We are victims of unaffordable prices. And a collaborating RBI.