At a MLK, Jr. Day conversation about inequality at Riverside Church in Harlem, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) told author Ta-Nehisi Coates, “No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars.”
Asked whether billionaire entrepreneurs earned their money, AOC stated, “Well you didn’t make those widgets, did you?… You sat on a couch while thousands of people were paid modern-day slave wages—and in some cases, real modern-day slavery, depending on where you are in terms of food production.
“You made that money off the backs of undocumented people, you made that money off the backs of black and brown people being paid under a living wage, you made that money off the backs of single mothers. No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars.”
It’s hard to fathom the depth of anger, bitterness, and hatred of people like AOC toward the rich, whose wealth they irrationally claim was simply stolen “off the backs” of enslaved non-whites. Her view of the world comes from ideological indoctrination rather than real life.