>> I do think defining poor as unemployed is way too narrow.
Definitely. You floated the idea that inflation would be progressive if the creditors have to pay higher wages (if wages rise in sync) while their loan portfolios in "old dollars" become essentially a worthless write down. There's a beautiful, even just economic logic to that. The trouble is that the lag itself becomes wealth under inflation. Normally, TTL between promising a worker a check and sending it gives a nominal value for holding that money as long as possible in an interest bearing or inflation-proof asset. Under inflation that time differential goes wild. Sometimes within a day or two, the value of the payment is gone by the time it gets to the employee. This is before it even enters the system as purchasing power.
Time becomes the most crucial element of profit and control, under inflation.
I do think defining poor as unemployed is way too narrow. There are plenty of people who are employed and also poor.