#135 - Michael Green - The Benchmark That Broke America

Mike Green is a macro strategist known for his work on market structure, benchmark distortions, passive flows and systemic fragility. A single benchmark shaped American markets and policy for decades and economist Mike Green believes it distorted risk, inflated asset prices, weakened the middle class and misled policymakers about the true state of the economy. In this conversation, he breaks down how a flawed model became accepted as truth, how it quietly rewired incentives, and why he thinks the consequences are now impossible to ignore. In this episode we discuss: – What the "broken benchmark" actually is – How flawed assumptions shaped U.S. economic policy – Why markets mispriced risk for decades – The rise of passive flows and distorted price signals – How asset inflation hurt the middle class – Why housing affordability collapsed – Why policymakers didn't correct the model – The structural consequences for future generations – Whether America can fix the system without a crisis – How the UK is importing the same benchmark problems - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 – How a Benchmark Became a National Problem   00:16:24 – The Rise of Passive Flows & Market Distortion   00:32:18 – Why America Misprices Risk   00:48:05 – Asset Inflation & the Middle-Class Squeeze   01:04:22 – Housing, Debt & Structural Fragility   01:19:57 – Why Policymakers Didn't Fix the Benchmark   01:36:44 – Elites, Incentives & the Illusion of Prosperity   01:53:30 – The UK's Imported Benchmark Problem   02:10:42 – What a Saner Benchmark Would Look Like   02:27:15 – Future Scenarios & Final Thoughts - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – [email protected] › Instagram – /mccormack555 › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH MIKE GREEN › Website – https://www.simplify.us › Twitter – https://x.com/profplum99 › Substack – https://substack.com/@michaelwgreen SPONSORS › IREN - https://www.iren.com/ › Ledger - https://www.ledger.com/ › Gemini - https://gemini.com/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04