The magical phenomenon where prices rise when the Japanese economy worsens

In the United States, when economic growth slows, the inflation rate tends to rise.

You might think that sounds ridiculous, but the data show it.

If we measure economic growth with the ISM index (since the ISM index is tied to GDP growth), as the next graph shows, when the ISM index is expanding, the consumer price index tends to fall. The opposite is also true. In other words, when the economy is slowing (when the ISM index is declining), the rate of consumer price inflation tends to rise.

If you invert the right-hand scale, it looks like this.

If the above is correct, even if the Fed raises rates and worsens the economy, prices would rise, making the rate hikes counterproductive.
This would leave us wondering what the Fed is actually doing.

Of course, that is not the case. In fact, the relationship between the economy and prices is as follows.