Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was called out for her claim that an individual “can’t earn a billion dollars,” as critics rejected the idea and accused the progressive “Squad” member of lying.
Appearing on comedian Ilana Glazer’s podcast, “It’s Open,” Ocasio-Cortez suggested that the very existence of a ten-figure net worth is a policy failure rather than a personal achievement.
“You can’t earn a billion dollars,” she told Glazer. “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 … you have to create a myth of earning it.”
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The New York Post’s Miranda Devine posted a facepalm emoji in response to AOC’s suggestion.
Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro called Ocasio-Cortez’s claims a lie.
“Lies. Billionaires get rich by innovating and risk-taking, offering new and better goods and services at prices people are willing to pay,” he wrote on social media. “Government makes cash through confiscation. AOC’s conspiratorial, envious view of the world leads to impoverishment and tyranny.”
Paul Graham, an author and entrepreneur, wrote, “Sure you can earn a billion dollars. I’ve been teaching people how to do it for 20 years. The way you do it is to start a company that grows fast. You don’t have to do anything bad to make a company grow fast. You just have to make something people want.”
Mark Hemingway, a senior writer at Real Clear Politics, said the full conversation was much worse than the clip that has gone viral.
“AOC is rightfully getting roasted for this, but it’s so much worse than this short clip. The amount of empty-headed lefty buzzwords and whining about ‘genocidal frameworks’ on this podcast is just astounding,” he said on X.
During the interview, Ocasio-Cortez framed economic insecurity not as a result of individual choices, but as a byproduct of a system that forces working-class Americans to internalize financial hardship.
“It’s not that Walmart pays less than a living wage,” Ocasio-Cortez said, mimicking the mindset she believes is forced upon the public. “It’s that I’m poor, and I didn’t work hard enough, so I didn’t earn a better station in my life.”
She further tied the wealth gap to the country’s current cultural divisions, suggesting that economic anxiety is being redirected toward marginalized groups.
“In an era of extreme income inequality, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this xenophobia and anti-immigrant feeling is happening at the same time,” she said.
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Noah Smith, the author of an economically focused Substack, expressed concern about the Democratic Party’s direction in reaction to the clip about Ocasio-Cortez.
“I am concerned that the Dems are becoming the party of ‘millionaires who resent billionaires,’” he wrote. “‘I made my millions fair and square, but you cheated and exploited the workers to make your billions, you capitalist pig!’”
Jennifer Sey, founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, asked, “So how do these ladies feel about billionaire Tom Steyer trying to buy the CA governor’s race with his unearned billions? Or Daniel Lurie buying the SF mayoral race? Those billions are ok?”
Reason editor Robby Soave wrote, “This is just abjectly false from beginning to end. What she’s doing here is trying to provide a moral justification for mass wealth confiscation, since in her view it is never earned legitimately.”
The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf wrote, “There are billionaires who accrue wealth via theft or rent-seeking, and they should be stopped. But others can and do generate more than a billion in real value for others. In different realms, Bill Gates and Jay Z both did. Incentivizing that sort makes all of us better off.”
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Twitch founder Michael Seibel also said he disagreed with AOC’s messaging.
“I strongly do not agree. This populist messaging is counterproductive. AOC teaching people that wealth = immorality is in opposition to the American dream,” he wrote.
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Ocasio-Cortez addressed some of the reaction she was getting to the claim, and doubled down.
“Some people get enraged that I draw attention to this,” she wrote on X, in addition to a lengthy explanation about her remarks. “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.”
Fox News’ CJ Womack contributed to this report.
