CNBC's Jim Cramer on Wednesday addressed the state of inflation in the U.S., and said the Federal Reserve will not stop rate hikes until the cost of living comes down.
"For two years now, we've heard that the Fed's rapid rate hikes would soon cause a recession, which would then crush inflation and ultimately lead to rate cuts," Cramer said. "But that never happened."
At the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, the central bank left interest rates unchanged but signaled it would raise them one more time this year.
Cramer believes Fed Chair Jerome Powell would like to see prices drop without layoffs, but might hike rates again even if it puts more people out of work. According to Cramer, Powell is "willing to inflict that pain" because he knows the long-term damage of inflation is an even worse scenario.
Cramer believes the Fed has done well to get inflation down from extreme highs when things were really out of control. Still, inflation remains high and at least moderately out of control, he added.
"Maybe that means Powell's almost ready to take the stock market from a sell to a hold. Or maybe, he'll know the time to stop tightening when he sees it and not before then," Cramer said.
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