I would characterise it differently. The aspect of financial repression that hurts the middle classes the most is letting inflation run. This is because they te

I would characterise it differently. The aspect of financial repression that hurts the middle classes the most is letting inflation run. This is because they tend to have cash assets and their way of life is in many ways predicated on the idea that working hard ensures a certain buying capacity. It is also hard for them to move to Panama, for many obvious reasons. It is more that in the current world, there are many options for moving money around, so it harder for a government to ensure they have a captive audience for financial repression in terms of cash reserves. I am not critiquing financial repression. It is probably the only feasible way to reduce government debt compared to say austerity measures. We would all be better off if economic growth could overcome government debt, but the Eurozone lacks the demographics to make this happen. Italy in particular is a basket case in that regard. One point to make however, is that the severe degree of inflation in Europe seems at least partly due to asinine energy policy. If that had been better handled, then the pain wouldn't be so great. Europeans may therefore be less happy to accept inflation denuding their lifestyles as an 'inevitable' condition of living in social welfare states.