> A sad thought I have about inflation is the fact that it is, wittingly or not, a weapon wielded by the rich against the middle and lower classes.

I think you have it backward. I think the inflation is the byproduct of their ability to own and hoard assets like land and labor, and reap the most value from those things, while everyone else is unable to get a foothold.

Inflation is happening because everyone is making more money, and everyone got a bunch of during covid, and now a lot of people are having large swaths of debt cut from their lives (college loan forgiveness program), not because rich people own stuff. But poorer people also can’t get ahead because rich people own everything.

This is a capitalism problem more specifically than it is a rich v. poor problem. Make it illegal to own more than one property and you will instantly give the lower and middle classes a chance.