Michael W. Green is a Wall Street portfolio manager who basically just lobbed a grenade into the larger discourse about the health of the US economy. While some experts think his math doesn’t check out, he seems to have captured a larger, accurate-ish sense of the US economy’s current vibe, according to The Washington Post.

Last week, as we were all busy brining our turkeys, Green used his Substack to argue that a family of four needs $136,500 a year just to cover modern American basics.

That’s more than four times the federal poverty line of $32,150, and well above the median household income in most states. According to Green’s math, much of the country is living in what he calls the “valley of death”: earning too much for benefits, too little for stability.

Some were quick to hail th

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