Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) takes a lot of grief for her less-than-stellar commentary. And the former bartender gets a lot of guff for being a former bartender. But she’s much more than that: AOC graduated cum laude in 2011 from Boston University College of Arts and Sciences with a dual bachelor of arts degree in both international relations and economics.
She’s smart and she brags about it often. “Wondering: How many other House Democrats have a degree in Economics like I do?” she once wrote on Twitter. “Trying to find who out here is going to be in the Gini Coefficient Appreciation Squad.”
Wondering: How many other House Democrats have a degree in Economics like I do?
Trying to find who out here is going to be in the Gini Coefficient Appreciation Squad.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 3, 2018
Maybe, though, she’s not as smart as she thinks.
Over the weekend, the top economic mind — who put forward an environmental package that costs an estimated $93 trillion over a decade — took to Instagram to muse about economic theory.
“It’s funny that you ask this because I was just reading today about how Milton Keynes, a famous economist back in the day, predicted that by 2030, US GDP would grow six to eight times what it is, which would allow for everyday people to work 15 hours a week,” she said, referencing a question from one of her followers.
Hmm. Milton Keynes. Never heard of him.
There’s economist John Maynard Keynes, a name every first-year econ student should know. Then there’s free-market economist and University of Chicago professor Milton Friedman, whose economic theories are often cited by conservatives and libertarians.
Still, the economist-turned-bartender-turned federal lawmaker held court on this “Milton Keynes,” saying he was right on because technology and the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) “have advanced wildly since the 1960s,” but added that wealth inequality has kept people from enjoying that short work week.
The Democratic socialist later sought to clarify with a whole new claim in a subsequent video: “UGGGH TYPO. It’s John Maynard Keynes. Mixed his name with Milton Friedman — a (very) different economist,” she wrote on Instagram.
Huh. A spoken typo. That’s weird. Maybe that’s what they teach you at Boston University if you’re an economics major.
Here she is saying it, not typo-ing it.
The interwebs, of course, had a field day.
“@AOC reveals the meaningless of an economics degree today. Her embrace of #socialism has her so confused that she mixes up #Friedman & #Keynes. As #Hayek said: ‘If socialists understood economics they wouldn’t be socialists,'” applied economist Prof. Steve Hanke of Johns Hopkins wrote on Twitter.
.@AOC reveals the meaningless of an economics degree today. Her embrace of #socialism has her so confused that she mixes up #Friedman & #Keynes. As #Hayek said: "If socialists understood economics they wouldn't be socialists."https://t.co/udYOtubu5z
— Prof. Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) February 9, 2020
“Someone should investigate how this dunce was awarded a degree in Economics,” former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka wrote. “And they say Trump voters are rubes! What an utter imbecile.”
Someone should investigate how this dunce was awarded a degree in Economics.
And they say Trump voters are rubes!
What an utter imbecile @AOC is. https://t.co/jtxZ5Nsnnq
— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) February 9, 2020
Others piled on.
“Seriously, has someone verified she went to college, let alone has an economics degree?”
Seriously, has someone verified she went to college, let alone has an economics degree?
— Hope (@Hoping4agirl) February 9, 2020
“She also managed to completely mispronounce Keynes. Wasn’t she an econ major? Embarrassing.”
She also managed to completely mispronounce Keynes. Wasn't she an econ major? Embarrassing.
— Justin Merrittt (@justinmerrit) February 8, 2020
“There’s no way to convey in writing how hard I’m laughing! I think I’m gonna call Boston University and grill them on what they’re teaching their students because AOC cannot pass a high school level economics test guaranteed! I think they just gave her a degree so she’d leave!”
There’s no way to convey in writing how hard I’m laughing! I think I’m gonna call Boston University and grill them on what they’re teaching their students because AOC cannot pass a high school level economics test guaranteed! I think they just gave her a degree so she’d leave!
— Dennis Falcone (@DennisFalcone3) February 9, 2020
Others pointed out the fallacy of the “spoken typo.”
“So if you were ‘just reading about this’, how was it a ‘typo’? Your act is stale.”
So if you were "just reading about this", how was it a "typo"? Your act is stale.
— Steve McLaughlin (@SteveMcNY) February 9, 2020
“So when you speak something incorrectly it is now a typo?”
So when you speak something incorrectly it is now a typo? @AOC
— Sharon Hines (@shines46) February 9, 2020