The Taylor rule gives the math behind it, but the layman's explanation is that as long as rates are lower than inflation, you turn a profit by borrowing money and buying a basket of assets, since their price will rise alongside inflation. This incentivizes people to borrow more money, which increases the money supply, which further exacerbates inflation.

This is the first term 'p' in the Taylor rule, which corrects the nominal interest rate that the Fed sets into a real interest rate that accounts for inflation.