1) It’s a complicated subject. How is power distributed? And not just ideologically, but logistically. Why should you trust… anything or anyone? What is equal versus what is fair?

Legal tender itself isn’t really the best means of rewarding an individual for contributing to society. It’s nice for trading a hair cut for a bushel of cucumbers. But a particularly greedy individual can a) horde money until they financially overwhelm society, or b) take their wealth/industry elsewhere if the government attempts to redistributed it. And that’s if all things were equal. When greed corrupts even the system that distributes the money, any attempt to redistribute it can be terminated “legally”.

But the liquidity of money and the modernized ability to so easily reinvest it is also what allows a society to rapidly advance technologically and culturally. Unfortunately, even that comes at the cost of financial viability. It’s not going to matter how advantageous something might be, say medically, if there’s no long term financial return for it.

2) I obviously can’t vouch for the validity of it, but I did remember seeing this post (with lots of swears) that says price gouging is illegal and should be reported. That doesn’t stop anyone from doing it at this moment. But more reports would lead to more arrests with a higher probability of news spreading, which should lead to fewer cases in the future.