A new expression has recently come to identify our current monetary system:  the K economy.  It uses the two branches of the letter K.  The upward one signifies the wealthy, the downward one, the impoverished.  Currently, Americans are experiencing the widest gap between rich and poor in over thirty years.  The top 1% of the population own 32% of all U.S. wealth; the bottom 20% have made minimal gains for decades.  The numbers of wealthy citizens resemble those of the 1920s, when 1% owned 34% of all monies –- the bottom was lower then, with 60% living below the poverty line.

     But poverty is relative.  There’s a reason why “affordability” has become a new political term here.  Minimum wages have stayed stagnant, while most prices have risen.  Many of us hold multiple jobs, find it difficult to afford medical care, can no longer send our children to college, and live, as it were, from hand to mouth.  The rising price of gasoline, caused by Trump’s war against Iran, impacts many Americans.  The president’s opposition to renewable energy sources, like solar, wind, and geothermal, exacerbates this problem. 

     Taxes don’t help, largely because Trump and the Republicans have slashed taxes for the wealthy.  Those with a lot of money also hire expensive lawyers, who keep them from paying any taxes at all.  The rest of us have to shoulder that burden. 

     I recently heard a fascinating discussion between the historian/writer Heather Cox Richardson and Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.  Williamson argues that taxes are the heart of democracy –- that is, taxes with representation.  Currently, our wealthiest have representation without taxation; our poorest, taxation without representation.  She maintains, with reason, that authoritarians oppose taxes because they also oppose democracy and cites the slave holders of the Confederacy, as well as Trump and many members of the current Republican party to prove her case.  Democratic taxation with representation is liberal and brings us such benefits as roads and public schools.  (In all other democracies, it also brings health care.)  Autocrats, like Trump, who has gutted the IRS, prefer money from foreign spoils, like oil from Venezuela, foreign and domestic gifts, like that plane from Qatar, or secret funds, like Bitcoin.  Rich people generally want to be “Masters of the Universe” –- a phrase Elon Musk used -- not taxpayers like the rest of us.  The founders of our Constitution gave the House of Representatives power over money, for taxation or for war, and made sure that citizens could control them by having elections every two years — the shortest terms within our government.

     Unfortunately, almost all current Republicans have abdicated this power and have done everything Trump has asked of them.  Can anything be done about this situation?

     Hell, YES!  Remember the No Kings 3 demonstration on March 28th?  Over 8,000,000 citizens marched, making it the largest political action in the history of the United States.  Up to now, the Democrats have stood firm against Trump and they have also won every single bi-election in the last two years.  More Republicans are retiring from office than Democrats.  Opposition parties generally win mid-term elections, but this year, I think the win will be immense.  We need to make it so, not only to check authoritarianism, but to ensure that the K-economy will no longer be okay.