Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been roundly scorned after she claimed on a podcast this week that the idea anyone can earn their way to billionaire status is a “myth.”
“You can’t earn a billion dollars. You just can’t earn that,” the Bronx and Queens rep told comedian Ilana Glazer Thursday on the latter’s podcast, “It’s Open.” “You can get market power, you can break rules, you can do all sorts of things.
“You can abuse labor laws, you can pay people less than what they’re worth. But you can’t earn that, right? And so you have to create a myth that — since you didn’t earn that, you have to create a myth of earning it.”
AOC doubled down in a post on X Thursday evening, writing: “The single largest form of theft in America is wage theft. $50 billion a year are stolen from American workers … Some people get enraged that I draw attention to this. That’s on them. Let them call me shrill, dumb, inexperienced, girly, uneducated – these folks will say anything to distract from or undercut the truth that working people are getting screwed, and giving people a fair shake means we must have a grown conversation about reigning in abuse of power.”
Critics were quick to clap back at the “Squad” member with many suggesting she was engaging in projection.
“There are a remarkable number of people who proceed from the premise ‘I could never do anything of a certain value’ to the conclusion ‘no one could do something of that value,’” one X user mused. “Those people are narcissists.”
“No, Alexandria … YOU can’t earn a billion dollars,” responded Rafael Mangual of the Manhattan Institute. “You see, those who can and have don’t share the limits of your knowledge and imagination. I understand that it’s psychologically soothing to chalk the disparity up to immorality on their part; but that doesn’t make it true.”
“Socialists don’t run businesses,” noted author Helen Raleigh. “They produce nothing valuable or desirable that others want. They enrich themselves only by taking from others by force. Therefore, they don’t understand how entrepreneurs can be so wildly successful in a free market simply by providing goods or services many people want and are willing to pay for.”
Still another dissenter, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Erik Voorhees, suggested that because AOC draws a taxpayer-funded paycheck, “her entire salary is stolen from people.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who holds a degree in economics and international relations, has been mooted by some observers as a candidate either for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination or to challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
