Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has some thoughts on the “self-made” billionaire narrative, and let’s just say she’s not buying what the 1% is selling. During a recent appearance on Ilana Glazer’s It’s Open podcast, the New York congresswoman took a metaphorical sledgehammer to the idea that extreme wealth is just the natural byproduct of skipping avocado toast and working really, really hard.
According to AOC, the American economic system has spent a lot of time writing a “moral story” that paints billionaires as geniuses and everyone else as just not trying hard enough.
“When you have these systems, when you have corporations, when you have an economic elite, there’s a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned,” Ocasio-Cortez said, before dropping the ultimate conversation-killer: “You can’t earn a billion dollars. You just can’t earn that.”
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The congresswoman argued that you don’t get a ten-figure bank account by being the hardest worker in the room. Instead, she suggests it’s more about having the right power tools—specifically, the power to manipulate markets, dodge rules, and pay employees a “thanks for coming” wage instead of what they’re actually worth.
“You can get market power, you can break rules, you can do all sorts of things,” she said. “You can abuse labor laws—you can pay people less than what they’re worth—but you can’t earn that.”
Because “I exploited a bunch of loopholes” doesn’t look great on a coffee mug, AOC claims the ultra-rich have to get creative with their PR.
“Since you didn’t earn that, you have to create a myth of earning it,” she explained. She noted that we’ve all “internalized” this vibe, leading us to believe the folks at the top are “more sophisticated” while those struggling are just “lazy.”
Naturally, the internet and the halls of Congress had thoughts. Critics were quick to point out that building a global empire from your garage actually involves a little bit of effort.
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Texas Senator Ted Cruz led the counter-charge, dusting off the history books to defend the billionaire club.
“Think of Henry Ford, who invented the Model T, who invented the assembly line, and basically created the American middle class—you don’t think that produced billions of dollars?” Cruz asked, apparently unimpressed by AOC’s math.
He also gave a shout-out to Elon Musk, noting that between the electric cars and the Mars-bound rockets, the man has probably earned a few of those zeros.
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