Amid continued backlash over her description of Israel as an occupier of Palestinian land, another comment from Democratic “rising star” and self-described socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from her much-maligned PBS interview is causing a stir online.
In an attempt to explain why unemployment levels have dropped to lows of 4% and below under the Trump administration, the Democratic congressional candidate, an economics and international relations major, explained, “Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs.”
Citing unemployment hitting 3.9%, “Firing Line” host Margaret Hoover asked Ocasio-Cortez if she still thinks that capitalism is not the best system for promoting the middle class.
“I think the [unemployment] numbers that you just talked about is part of the problem,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “Because we look at these figures and we say that unemployment is low and everything is fine, right? Well, unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their kids.”
She then unloaded on America’s “hyper-capitalism,” stating, “So I do think right now we have this no holds barred, wild west hyper-capitalism. What that means is profit at any cost. Capitalism has not always existed in the world and will not always exist in the world,” she said.
The responses online were similar to responses to her Israel comments. A few examples of people offering quick remedial lessons on how the unemployment rate is and isn’t calculated (h/t Twitchy):
Others responded to her critique of capitalism:
While others celebrated her victory in the primary against Nancy Pelosi’s expected “successor” as a victory for Republicans: