Two grim realities are keeping the K-shaped economy alive Inflation is disproportionately slamming lower-income workers, while the top of the income distribution has benefited from roaring stock prices. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images New research provides insights into what's been powering the US's K-shaped economy. Lower earners are affected more by inflation and gas prices. Many of them also don't get to benefit from the stock market, unlike higher earners. The prongs of the K-shaped economy are being propped up by two dreary economic realities: lower earners are getting hit harder by inflation, and left behind by blockbuster stock market gains . A new analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York looks at how the US economy slowly morphed into a K-shape where higher earners are thriving, or at least holding steady, and lower earners' economic fortunes are backsliding.…