Do the majority of Americans share in the benefits of economic recoveries? Does a rising tide, as we are often told, lift all boats?

It turns out that since World War II, every expansion has delivered a smaller and smaller share of the gains in income growth to the bottom 90% of families. Even worse, in the latest expansion, while the economy has grown and average real income has recovered from its 2008 lows, all of the benefits have gone to the wealthiest 10% of families, while the income of the bottom 90% has fallen (Figure 1).

We have thus reached a situation where a rising tide sinks most boats.