Wall Street portfolio manager Michael Green set the cat among the pigeons recently by claiming the new poverty line for a family of four in the US was $140,000. Photograph: Brian Kaiser/BloombergWall Street portfolio manager Michael Green set the cat among the pigeons recently by claiming the new poverty line for a family of four in the United States was $140,000 (€119,000) a year. “We have been told, implicitly, that a family earning $80,000 is doing fine − safely above poverty, solidly middle class, perhaps comfortable,” Green writes. Instead of commanding a third of household income, they now command a half. “To reach the median household income of $80,000, most families require two earners,” he says.

Source: The Irish Times December 12, 2025 15:00 UTC