Income and wealth disparity between the poor plus working class versus the top has gotten worse in the last 40 years.   The trickle-down economics, where the rich create living wage jobs for everyone else — is not working.  The reduced ability of workers to unionize to represent a united front with management is being legislated away.   The removal of any controls on money in politics, with the Court’s revocation called “Citizens United” (a typical fake name hiding an ugly concept) has allowed the rich to control whom gets elected by withholding their donations for non-compliant (do as I want or else) candidates. The “great” recession was anything but for the poor that lost everything.  The inability to secure full-time jobs with a living wage, even with record low unemployment, requires many to hold multiple part-time jobs to support their families.   Yet, taxes for the rich continue to go down in percentage and real terms.

The study The Triumph of Injustice by economists E. Saez and G. Zucman reported in the Washington Post October 10,2019, shows for the first time in history,  the effective tax rate

for the top 400 families was 23%,

lower than the rate paid by the bottom half (50%) of earners 24.2%.

In 1980 the richest effective tax rate was 47%.  Additionally, the “death tax” law changes; allows more and more rich beneficiaries to keep more and more as inheritance.

The ability, and willingness, of corporations to replace employees with machines, or worse just force them to do more for the same pay and hours.  All of these issues are documented repeatedly, in study after study.

The rich do not create their wealth without the hard work of their unsung employees.  Whom builds everything the rich claim as theirs?

How could the ability to pass laws, defined by citizens, directly change this wealth dynamic? 

What common sense, easy to understand, easy to implement, hard to subvert laws, would help course correct the wealth disparity back to a reasonable level?