The Peter McCormack Show #135 - Michael Green - The Benchmark That Broke America
Dec 11, 2025
Michael Green, a macro strategist and commentator, dives into the profound effects of a flawed benchmark that has distorted U.S. markets and economic policies. He reveals how this model misled policymakers, inflated asset prices, and contributed to the middle-class squeeze. Green discusses the rise of passive investing, the mispricing of risk, and the decline in housing affordability. He connects economic stagnation to social issues and urges for structural reforms to address these pressing challenges, emphasizing the need for civic engagement and community-focused policies.
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Poverty Line Masks Today's Affordability Crisis
- The official poverty line was built from a 1960s food-share heuristic and then indexed to CPI, which misrepresents modern costs.
- Michael Green argues this warped benchmark conceals a real affordability crisis for middle households.
Wealthy Retreat From Public Life
- Wealthy people have retreated into gated, private lifestyles and abandoned public infrastructure usage.
- Green contrasts this with a mid-20th-century overlap where elites still shared many public institutions.
CPI Quality Adjustments Favor The Rich
- CPI hedonic adjustments capture richer consumers' quality gains and understate price pressures poorer households feel.
- Green emphasizes poor people experience a different, higher effective inflation than headline CPI shows.
