Bluffton resident Ron Lora is a retired history professor, past president of the Swiss Community Historical Society and member of the Bluffton University Sports Hall of Fame. We are pleased to begin providing his monthly guest column in the Bluffton and Ada Icons.

By Ron Lora

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, two of the best American authors of the twentieth century, engaged in an intriguing exchange on rich people: “Let me tell you about the very rich. The rich are different from you and me,” wrote Fitzgerald. “Yes,” Hemingway replied, “They have more money.” That repartee didn’t actually occur face-to-face, but grew out of words they had written. Both had a point, but Hemingway is thought to have won the exchange. 

The level of great wealth in America is exploding, leading Mary Cunningham, CBS MoneyWatch reporter, to describe the U.S. Economy as K-shaped. The upward-slanting stroke of the “K” represents income and wealth trends of the very wealthy; the lower-slanting stroke that of lower-income people. 

Federal Reserve data released in January revealed that wealth inequality in America hit its widest gap in more than three decades: “The top 1% of households owned 31.7% of all U.S. wealth in the third quarter of 2025, the highest share on record since the Federal Reserve began tracking household wealth in 1989.”  Meanwhile, wealth growth for the rest of the population has “stalled or slowed.” 

In 2025 alone, the “wealthiest 15 billionaires in America saw their wealth grow over 30 percent.” Among the top names: Elon Musk’s wealth increased +$305 billion; Larry Page, +$101 billion;  Sergey Brin, +$87 billion. All far outpaced increases among major stock indices: S&P 500, +17% Nasdaq, +20.5%; DJIA, +13.4%. 

Forty percent of Americans pay little or no federal income tax.  But that also holds true for many in the top 1% of payers.  “Salaries are for suckers,” one has said. “I’ll receive benefits through the growing value of my stock holdings” (not subject to federal income tax), said another.  

In April, The Ezra Klein Show highlighted an investigation published by ProPublica in 2021, containing leaked tax documents that revealed what some actually paid.  (The leaker is serving a prison term.) It found that Warren Buffett’s true tax rate was 0.1%, with Jeff Bezos at 0.98% and Michael Bloomberg at 1.3%.  

The colossal transfer of wealth from the working and middle class families to the wealthiest class points to where forceful political and economic power today lies. Not since the late nineteenth century have the wealthy, particularly the ultra-wealthy, enjoyed such power. 

Most Americans believe in democracy, but also believe it isn’t working well.  A March 2026 survey by the Pew Research Center indicates that 69% of Americans said they were dissatisfied with the way democracy is working in the United States, while only 31% were satisfied. The New York Times editorial board sought out legal scholars and political scientists to examine factors affecting our eroding democracy.  These included bypassing Congress, persecution of political opponents, vilification of marginalized groups, control of information and news, and creating a cult of personality. 

Policymakers have tools available to reverse democratic backsliding.  Among immediate common-sense programs are investments in education and affordable housing, workforce development programs and wider access to healthcare. Then comes the difficult matter of tax reform. It’s well to remind ourselves that tax laws are not handed down by God. Humans write them. 

One revision could be to unrig the tax code that now allows the richest individuals to escape federal income taxes on unrealized capital gains.  Economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman (UC Berkeley), for example, argue that to curb rising inequality and restore tax fairness, an annual progressive wealth tax is essential on the top 0.1% of families. Significant revision of the tax code applying to profitable mega-corporations is also necessary.

Given our dysfunctional government in Washington, D.C., with Congress barely acting, one fears it might take an economic shock of the magnitude of Pearl Harbor or the Great Depression to mobilize public opinion behind a movement confronting enormous wealth disparity.  No one wants that order of disaster. However, public citizens will need to mobilize and highlight the importance of state and federal elections to bring about one victory at a time.

Allowing for significant historical differences, the post-World War II period suggests an historical model. We marvel at the close succession of mass protests and proximity of landmark legislation that brought a century of Jim Crow to an end.  Sparked by Rosa Parks’ arrest, the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) led to the desegregation of the public bus system in Montgomery, Alabama. There followed the Little Rock Nine, 1957; Greensboro Sit-Ins, 1960; Freedom Rides, 1961; March on Washington, 1963, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his eloquent and inspirational “I Have a Dream” speech.  

These protest movements resulted in landmark acts: Brown v. Board of Education, 1954; Civil Rights Act, 1964; Voting Rights Act, 1965; and the Fair Housing Act, 1968. 

If reforming our K-shaped economy seems daunting at the moment, it’s well to recall that African-Americans, advocates for the rights of women, and other marginalized groups once felt that way.  And change came.