KEY POINTS
  • As the economy struggles to shake off the pandemic effects, worries are growing that the recovery could look like a K.
  • That would be one where growth continues but is uneven, split between sectors and income groups.
  • One obvious area of concern is the dichotomy of the stock market vs the real economy, especially considering that 52% of the market is owned by the top 1% of earners.
  • "Let's not get lost on different letters of the alphabet," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. "There are certainly parts of the economy that need more work."
People walk by a store going out of business along 125th street in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, August 7, 2020.

The story for much of the past generation has been a familiar one for the U.S. economy, where the benefits of expansion flow mostly to the top and those at the bottom fall further behind.

Some experts think the coronavirus pandemic is only going to make matters worse.