Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (DSA-NY) recently gave us her expert opinion on the earnings of billionaires. Said she:
There’s a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned. You can’t earn a billion dollars. You just can’t earn that.
Of course, everyone has been having a grand old time twitting AOC on her ignorance, and some have actually pointed out how billionaires get their money, like Ben Shapiro:
Billionaires get rich by innovating and risk-taking, offering new and better goods at prices people are willing to pay. Government makes cash through confiscation.
Now I happen to think that AOC is doing us a favor here. The key words to me are “accumulation” and “earn.” And I understand why she would think that “You can’t earn a billion dollars.”
She is thinking like a 20-something bartender, and getting to billionaire status is “inconceivable” to a 20-something bartender. It’s easy to see why. A bartender “earns” a few thousand dollars a month, and if she saves some of her earnings after paying New York City rent, New York City taxes, New York State taxes, and federal taxes, she may, if she’s lucky, “accumulate” a teeny bit of savings in her IRA account.
That has been the life experience of Sandy Cortez, bartender extraordinaire.