The "A Rising Tide Raises All Boats" metaphor has been used to justify neoliberal trickle-down economics for the past several decades, but it doesn't actually hold any water. Of course in the literal sense, water finds its own level, so when the tide comes in, all of the boats in a harbor rise. But, this is an oversimplification and the metaphor is not representative of reality. It is a simple rhetorical tool made to justify the astronomical levels of wealth and income inequality that we have seen since the rise of neoliberalism.
In the 60s, wages stopped keeping pace with productivity, and since then, the people who receive the profit from that productivity have absolutely cashed out at the workers' expense. Both income and wealth inequity have been so dramatic that since 1989, the top 1% of the US saw its net worth increase by $21 trillion, while at the same time the bottom 50% of the US lost over $900 billion. The "rising tide" is not raising all boats, but it is literally sinking the boats of the working class.
The metaphor is also wrong for another reason: it doesn't consider boats with holes in them. There are communities across America that have been subjugated purposefully to keep racial minorities entrapped in sinking boats through things like racist zoning laws, redlining, a lack of job opportunities, terrible education systems, environmental racism, crack cocaine, mass incarceration, and overzealous policing. That is not nearly an exhaustive list, and that's already 8 holes in the boat. Try drilling 8 holes in your boat before you take it out on the water, let me know how that goes for you.
There is also the concerted attack upon LGBTQIA+ individuals across our nation. For example, there are currently efforts to exclude trans people from federally funded homeless shelters and from healthcare protections. Considering that these are two of the necessities for life (housing and healthcare) these represent absolutely massive holes in the boat.
In addition, the system of predatory debt exists in America to extract every possible cent out of the poorest of our nation. Through payday loans, loan sharking, predatory lending to small businesses, car loans, credit card debt, overdraft fees, sub-prime mortgages, student debt, and tons of other types of debt there are literal trillions of dollars in debt saddled upon the poorest of our nation. This is more akin to filling your boat with concrete before trying to launch, which is also very much a bad idea for sailing.
Then, there are problems that affect all of the working class, white or black, comfortable or in poverty. The main two are the attack on labor and global warming. The neutering of the labor movement through the NLRA, Taft-Hartley Act, and the decades of union-busting, court-packing, and regulatory capturing activities have put a hole in all of our boats. Not only is the labor movement confined to a very strict function of collective bargaining, but it is also being eroded before our eyes and union density is close to the lowest it has ever been.
Global warming has been a policy choice. There are politicians in office funded by companies that are actively and deliberately warming the planet for their own economical gain. Exxon has known about global warming since the 70s, and since then the fossil fuel industry has spent billions of dollars to protect their own profits by funding false scientific studies, pushing misinformation PR campaigns, and funding the campaigns of politicians of both parties everywhere. Global warming is going to have a myriad of negative effects, but this time the tide is going to do a lot more than just raise some boats.
The boats of the ruling class are nothing like the sinking dinghies and canoes of the working class. They of course have their super yachts, but a more accurate representation of their actions would be warships and container ships. The outward military and economic imperialism of the US affects people everywhere else in the world, resulting in the economic domination of developing nations through exploitative institutions and trade deals with the enforcement mechanism of the strongest military in history. In fact, there are only 3 nations that the US has never invaded or had a military presence in (Andorra, Bhutan, and Liechtenstein.)
The warships of the ruling class are the ones who put the holes in the boats of the working class. There has been a class war going on for centuries, but we haven’t been fighting back. A dinghy could never challenge a battleship on its own, but they cannot stop a fleet of all of us. An injustice to one is an injustice to all of us. A true people's movement, a bigger united boat, will give us a chance for self defense.