Wall Street strategist explains today’s political rage with a poverty line that should be $140,000 and the ‘Valley of Death’ trapping people below it

The affordability crisis rippling through American politics saw voters dump Democrats for another Donald Trump presidency last year, while this year saw a democratic socialist elected as mayor of New York City.

That’s despite economic data showing cooler inflation, steady income gains, and resilient consumer spending.

But according to Michael Green, chief strategist and portfolio manager for Simplify Asset Management, conventional gauges don’t capture how much Americans are struggling with the cost of living, even households earning six figures.

In a viral Substack post last week, he took particular aim at the federal government’s poverty line, which traces back to the early 1960s and was calculated by tripling the cost of a minimum food diet at the time.

“But everything changed betwee