For example, if inflation were steady at 10% a year, it would suck during the adjustment period, but we would learn to live with it.

Inflation must be moderate - 2-3% - to be acceptable. Predictability is necessary, too, but if nominal prices rise at too high a constant rate, the need to renegotiate and reprice starts to take a toll on the time and energies of the people involved in the process.

Also, if the inflation rate is too high, the inflation element of interest rates must be stiflingly high relative to current incomes. Negatively amortizing loans (in nominal terms, not real terms), with escalating payments, become necessary. Fixed pensions and annuities stop working, and all sorts of dislocations occur, even if the inflation rate is the same every year and is full predicted.

The Fed has it right. 2-3% steady inflation is the right strategy. Whether the current spate of interest rate increases is the right tactic is a separate issue. Maybe it is necessary to slow demand while the supply chain is repaired. But we should understand that rationing by price and rationing by creditworthiness are just two ways of reaching the same result - reduced demand for reduced supply. Only the people getting the short end of the straw are different.