This is a bit devil’s advocate, but if you accept higher profiteering has been happening, and that this has fuelled inflation data (higher prices effectively devaluing the purchasing power of the $), and that this has led to increased interest rates, has the decision to not intervene (and I’m not saying the GP’s comment is the only way, nor my preferred way) effectively led to “the financial and monetary system” taking more of people’s private assets across the board either by devaluing the worth of their existing dollars and/or, for those with lines of credit, actively “taxing” new dollars they get through higher rates. Not to mention the likely resulting impact on small businesses as investment and consumer $ tighten up, and people who will presumably start losing jobs as the intended impact of these monetary levers hit.

I know the US system is a little different with long-term fixed mortgages, but for much of the world on variable interest rates, central bank decisions have an almost next day impact on income (and a fairly near term impact for those able to lock-in rates for a couple years).

It’s not quite as active as the government seizing assets, and I agree from a liberty perspective in governments not doing that, but from a purely rational perspective if I was presented the option of “once off wealth tax to erode the savings everyone accumulated during Covid (or even better put them into a long-term bond that will be released during a future deflationary period)” and the situation we have right now where they’re netting the same outcome slowly, in the process enabling privileged parties along the way to benefit through siphoning off as the policy levers squeeze, I’m given some pause.