Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won plaudits from critics for saying her congressional salary is her only income and she doesn't trade stocks.
Summary
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denied claims that she is secretly wealthy, stating she is worth less than $500,000 and doesn’t trade stocks or take corporate money.
Her financial disclosures show modest savings and student debt.
Some conservatives on X, despite opposing her politics, praised her perceived integrity.
Accusations of political corruption have surged online, partly fueled by Elon Musk.
I mean if you take the internet as a monolith, you'll find contradictions every where. Some people will hate A because of B, some people will hate A because of C, but either way A is getting hate for both B and C.
So either there are millions of people online with different opinions but the crowd looks the same, or there is one very, very busy troll who is running all the accounts.
~help I'm so tired they won't give me a break to pee~
One busy troll? What makes you think it is just one person? Maybe if it was the 1990's you might have had a single troll per social platform but we are way past that point. A real troll would even be considered high quality with so many bot accounts nowadays.
I'm glad it seems that many democrats are quitting their Gatekeeping bullshit with AOC.
So frustrating to see people so concerned about the perception of some strawman caricature the right manufacture for our best fighters that we turn on our own. If it wasn't obvious, they attack her so relentlessly because they fear her and know her potential more some of our own.
Nancy Pelosi dedicated the month before Trump was inaugurated to ensuring AOC, a spoiler leftist in a sea of her crony neoliberals, didn't get an oversight committee seat.
Neoliberals Democrats hate actual leftwing politicians far more than they hate their fascist opposition party. Makes sense, Fascists and neoliberals have the same bosses and take the same bribe checks.
The left is all about inclusivity and forgiveness unless you've made any amount of mispropriety, then it's a race to drop you as quick as possible.
The right is all about being held accountable for your transgressions, law and order, you do the crime you pay the time, but they have 0 cares about their leaders being held accountable.
I feel like each party is the watchdog for the others politicians, and the left is way too accepting of the right wings transgressions, while the right wing hammers the left as quick and hard as possible (except we just do it to ourselves!)
I'm more moderate and have always respected AOC, but thought she was too extreme to make a good president. I genuinely believe that the president should be someone who wants to build coalitions and steer the country towards a better future without allowing it to fracture. I still believe that, but I recognize now that my way of thinking can't win elections in this modern era of politics. Now is the time for a firebrand - someone who would rather lose than compromise. I would still be worried about civil war if AOC became president, but I'm already worried about that now, so no point in holding it against her.
We would need 60 of her in the senate, or literally anybody else on the blue team, for America to have any hope. Otherwise Republicans will filibuster any spec of salvation.
Which is why, for now, the Democrats need to be pulling all the tactics McConnell demonstrated for them under Obama.
FILIBUSTER EVERYTHING.
This is not the time for Democrats to be the Party of smooth-running government.
Use those loopholes the Right-stealers gave themselves in the rules. The only thing they should be voting for is bills that entangle, delay, or reject Trump's blitzkrieg.
And if they have to talk across the aisle, it should be to remind them that if they hand the Power of the Purse over now, they'll never get it back and they'll lose all their value to lobbyists, all their stock-market prescience, all their importance back home.
I hope that we can also get a younger white male progressive to work along side her. Not because I think they'd be better, but it might help draw emotionally fragile men who can't accept a woman in charge. Also, it would mean another progressive reaching the masses, which is always good.
A lot of men are sick of being told they're emotionally fragile for not wanting to be accused of thoughtcrime. Both sides are responsible for this situation and it doesn't help to attack the base you're seeking support from. Dems and you need to learn this.
she's the real deal, but i fear she's been too vilified by the diaper and his cult, and the far-right wastes of humanity that broadcast all the bullshit that enable him, to make successful run for the white house.
Any effective progressive is going to be vilified. They will be attacked from all sides, and all of their dirty laundry will be made public. Every flaw, every misstep, every gaff, all of it will be blown out of proportion by the machine they threaten.
333 upvotes and i'm the only one downvoting...
We are on lemmy a decentralized and open source platform. Do you really feel this person who use X and meta, who gets featured daily on mass media and who is a member of the red and blue party is ever going to make an actual improvement? The hope for america is that people wake up and realize how hard they are getting fooled by the government.
Lemmy is small mastodon is a little bigger but still absolutely tiny compared to those other social media platforms. The politicians should be where their base is which is twitter and the meta platforms.
I love AOC. I'd vote for her in a heartbeat in primary and general elections. Now, whether she makes it to the general depends on the DNC, and I have no faith that the political consultant/establishment class will let anything remotely progressive through. No money to be made.
I guess the only way forward would be to vote for her in the primaries to such a degree that the Dems have not choice but to confirm her through.
That was the Bernie plan in 2016 & 2020 during the primaries. Clinton had the support of the established Democratic party and with superdelegates Clinton took a commanding lead. Similar situation with Biden, most dropped out before Super Tuesday and endorsed him.
Now both of these instances could be considered "smart politics". If you've got the political maneuvering to win the primary, then maybe you've got the same maneuvering to win the general.
It didn't work out for Clinton. It did work out for Biden.
When we look at our most recent election, it's clear there was a little bit more of a rift, but Harris was chosen and there was no primary.
Now, some of this is simplified and there is plenty to argue. But suffice to say we can't just vote for AOC "so much" that she'll win. I don't see the Democratic party supporting her.
Now it's too early to talk about 2028 realistically and a lot can change between now and then, but if she were running today she'd have my vote.
Or, get so much grassroots activism going that you can start a new party for her.
You might go a round of everyone flaming, "nooo! You have to support Dems or Repbs will win!!1!" But if enough people try a vote for your new party, next time it might have a chance.
She doesn’t have to start a new party. The left side of the dems should just use The Tea Party and MAGA playbook. They co-opted the GOP by pushing out Republican incumbents in local elections first. A shitton of money from the far-right went to these smaller elections. Then they moved on up and replaced Republican state senators. They created enough momentum that Trump became a viable candidate.
Push enough incumbents out and the Democrats have to take the left seriously. Plus it will normalize left wing rhetoric and policies among the populace. Screaming “cOmmUniSm” won’t work anymore when the people have seen these policies being implemented in their own communities.
She needs to win a senate seat first. I think schumer should retire, and she should run for the seat. If she can win, we can see how many red districts went for her.
There is one group of people who both share the ire of most people and deserve it: The ultra rich.
I've had rednecks tell me they disagreed with Bernie on a lot but they liked how he hated billionaires. Ben Shapiro's gaggle of yes-men gave him grief for criticizing Luigi.
If votes count for anything anymore a smart, effective political party would be able to capitalize on this universal hatred.
I mean, that's a large part of Trump's original appeal, right? So many people on both sides agree there's rampant corruption in the government and politicians and billionaires getting too rich off it - and Trump promised an answer. And why his current wreckage of government still has many conservatives approving: they believe he is answering, kind of.
Now, if you could get Sanders and AOC to start a new party...
And why his current wreckage of government still has many conservatives approving: they believe he is answering, kind of.
Now, if only we can get them to see that he's got people in his orbit at billionaire techbros who think they're all going to be John Galt, and that the "capitalist utopia" he builds in Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" is what they're trying to build and it won't be good for them. They think they're all going to live in their own Galt's Gulch when it's going to be more like Andrew Ryan's Rapture.
You have no idea what you're talking about. 500k in assets is like a decent house that you're still making payments on, a couple cars, and some 401k savings. People like that are not the problem. That lifestyle should be the base level for every single American, imo.
Where are you from that you think hundreds of thousands of dollars in the US is "wealth"?
Do you know that 500k in the US doesn't even get you a nice house? You need literally around 2 mil saved up JUST TO RETIRE BEFORE 70.
She is helping people in that she serves her constituency, she is a representative, nobody expects her to donate her money to anyone, but she does raise money in fundraisers all the time. She helps more people than most of her peers in congress. These fundraisers do NOT make you money, you may have some very backwards ideas about how money works in politics. Even the right respects AOC to an unusual degree, like they do Bernie Sanders. At least about policy and messaging. They care more about people than party.
Americans are obligated to save individually for retirement and tax-incentivized to stockpile appreciating assets in personal trusts, in anticipation of becoming too old to work.
It is not that unusual at all for a 30-something professional earning a six-figure salary to set aside 10-20% of that in savings. I suppose you can argue Congresscritters are overpaid and therefore anyone in a federally elected office is de facto not trying to help people. But then you've got a problem with how we handle retirement, not with how AOC handles her politics.
The politician you are most interested in talking about in this moment, right now with this future quickly unfolding, with respect to scamming the american people... is AOC!!!?
ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha I hope I choke on my popcorn while laughing bitterly so I don't have to live through the stupidest possible future for my country
AOC is a prodigious fundraiser with a significant national following. She might only have a half-million in the bank, but her name and her reputation are worth orders of magnitude more.
Conservatives have a hard time believing someone like that isn't getting rich quick on $AOCCoin or LeftyBear merch offerings.
Conservatives have a hard time believing someone like that isn’t getting rich quick on $AOCCoin or LeftyBear merch offerings.
Being dishonest you have a bigger selection of instruments to gain power. So politicians are more likely to be dishonest than the average person. And then a dishonest person would use the opportunity.
Anyway, cool for AOC to be honest, but unfortunately her views (specifically support of MMT) are a certain way to nuke the economy of the USA.
If we detach ourselves from the emotional part (suicides, hunger deaths), it may even be liberating, if USD as a currency takes a 10000x inflation in a year or so, while big businesses reliant on American system of connections grown by decades of stability die. US main capital is still human capital, competent people and their knowledge. No hyperinflation will kill that, if recovery is quick enough.
Except that's not the way people like AOC promise.
I think regardless of whether you are Republican or a Democrat, AOC is probably the closest to what a representative should be. Now whether you agree with her or not is a different discussion entirely, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. She's just the only one that actually seems to give a shit about who she represents. Whereas both for Republicans and Democrats the vast majority of our "representation" are crotchety and corrupt old people that don't give a shit anymore.
She’s just the only one that actually seems to give a shit about who she represents. Whereas both for Republicans and Democrats the vast majority of our “representation”
While I agree with almost everything you said, there's really no good reason to make a statement like that and leave Bernie in with the "vast majority" group. 🙂
The man has walked the walk for a very long time. (Yes he's too old to run for office now, but he deserves his due!)
I saw a recent interview Bernie did with AOC and I learned that she got into politics specifically because she was inspired by Bernie during his presidential run in 2016. Thats something I didn't realize and it explains a lot why we feel a lot of the same energy from them.
I say run him anyways - he can be the token 'old white dude', with AOC as his vice. If he kicks the bucket or finds that he is breaking down, he can pass the baton. Otherwise, we get an extra four years of progress for each term he runs. If dementia is a concern, just write a public contract under what terms he is out of the running.
Something like "We know I am getting old. AOC has my right of attorney for determining my mental state."
Most Americans want progressive policies, they're just convinced from Cold War propaganda that progressivism/socialism is always the opposite of good.
Bernie stopped running for president after the DNC told him to. He's proven he doesn't have what it takes to stand for his principles in a presidential run.
I loved Bernie, even donated to him twice, but he's a coward and only does lip service these days.
The DNC would murder her if she broke through their primary defenses and got close enough.
They're fine with losing, the pendulum is part of the grift, what they aren't fine with is losing their half of that bipartisan oligarch gravy train. Our capitalists don't bribe both parties to have those parties stand against economic metastasis at all human cost.
We can have affirmation ribbons and be sucked dry by the oligarchs, or we can have scapegoating and be sucked dry by the oligarchs, that is the extent of our "freedom." Reagan and Kemp saw to that by getting their former opposition on the take.
Now would be a great time to just put the democratic party out of its misery. Looking around the party, we can be comforted that at least it will go peacefully, in its sleep. Let's at least see if we can get a fresh new party out of all this shit.
I hope so, but she’s going to have to get through at least another four years, probably more, of being ratted and feathered by Republicans, and somehow still look clean
I still contend that was the real problem with Hillary Clinton. Not that she was a poor candidate or hade some questionable decisions but that Repugnants spent years throwing shit at her so she looked like a mess. She was at least as good as a candidate as anyone else and many of the objections were manufactured
I honestly think the problem with Hillary had less to do with her as a person and more with the fact that it felt like she was being forced on folks. I am not as educated on all the shenanigans the DNC pulled to get her to be the nominee over Bernie, but I know that for a lot of folks it felt like the DNC just did what they obviously keep doing and gave the job to the person they deemed “deserved it” for their own internal bs reasons, while ignoring the constituents they claim to represent. Her nomination felt like a precursor to Harris being nominated without a primary. I think that’s also where a lot of disillusionment comes from on the left, the dem party just doesn’t seem to have any desire to even pretend that they care about their constituents
The difference is that AOC is doing what politicians are supposed to do and establishing an identity for herself that would allow her to connect with voters. Clinton, on the other hand, presented herself as a blank slate and then whined when her enemies filled that slate in.
Clinton had a problem with her public image for years before 2016 and resolutely refused to do anything about it, instead just blaming others at every turn. That attitude shows that she would have been a shitty President. Better than Trump, of course (there are few people who wouldn't be) but still shitty by any objective measure.
Unless the republicans field a multiple rapist convict again. Then it's a tossup and a guaranteed L, if there's a war somewhere the genocide people can get behind.
I hope that AOC has a security detail, a go bag and plan, and an ideal state to reside in. It is my expectation for Yarvin's Cabel to try to capture or assasinate her at some point, since she is one of the few major lightning rods to be the president of a Free America. We will need great people to organize the defense of our people against the fascist agenda.
That is the name that I have given to the authors of Project 2025. It is basically a playbook on how to take over America and to dismantle democracy. Curtis Yarvin is likely the leader of the bunch in a ideological sense. If Trump and Elon is disposed, it would be problematic if Yarvin and his friends didn't get caught in the net. We have to make a point that America's takeover was a planned group effort.
It’s pretty absurd that y’all qaeda bitch about all the money that (insert lib politician) makes while throwing money or votes at billionaires who then turn around and accuse lib politicians like AOC or Sanders of being rich.
Can we all please notice how under capitalism, you can refer to people being 'worth' a dollar amount? Money is something you have, it says nothing about who you are. I'm fine with having an amount of wealth, but your worth is not measured in dollars, that's fucked
I get what you’re saying. But the term is generally used to clarify that the amount quoted reflects the person’s assets and their value, and not just their liquid cash. Which a lot of people in this thread seem to not understand. I agree we should probably use a different term for that, but for now it works as easy short hand for “this is is how much this person owns in assets and liquid cash combined.”
I might be wrong on this, but I think the term also includes income into the account, like how much someone brings in per year. And it might also subtract debt, though I’m not sure of either of those.
Just in case anyone is curious- It's assets minus liabilities, so income is not directly included, but debt does get subtracted.
I can agree with both comments here. It can be a useful to talk about, but the name of it is icky, especially if you're tying your worth as a person to it (which definitely happens).
They're so concerned about profittering they support a guy that was giving millions directly from China, took millions in goverment funds by making secret service stay in his hotels and charging them 1000x the rate of any other guest. This guy's will pay their life down for the biggest kleptocrat in US history, but yeah AOC needs to be monitored.
Jesus, people need to learn to read a damn article.
Her financial disclosure form last year showed she had no more than $46,000 across her checking, savings, brokerage, and 401(k) accounts, and owed between $15,000 and $50,000 of student loans.
Forbes estimated Ocasio-Cortez's net worth last year at about $125,000 with most of her wealth in a Thrift Savings Plan — a 401(k)-style investment vehicle for government employees that doesn't have to be listed in financial disclosures.
And no it's not that unusual for ordinary people to have 500k net worth. Buy a house, put in a few percent in your 401k in index funds, and there you go.
For that matter, Millennials are going to need a $1M networth by retirement age. At least $1M. Now, AOC has some pension benefits as a member of Congress, so she's not quite as ratfucked as the rest of us, but even if she had $500k, she'd be in the "good enough" range.
You are completely making things up. I am not even worth $1 million. Or a half million. I am one of the lowest net worth members of Congress, trade no individual stock, and take no outside income. These filings are public. I loathe corruption, and your lying is reprehensible.
Do you live in the USA? That's not even the price of an "okay" median house in a middle-class neighborhood. That's a nice chunk to have in the bank or have in investments, but if you ever want to retire at a decent age and not spend your later years eating canned beans in a mobile home, you need to save up more than a million unless you have some specific plans for your future.
A lot of people have a lot of huge misconceptions about the wealth in the US. We may be the richest nation but we spend the most also, and the costs are skyrocketing beyond even the highest normal wages. You simply cannot own a house on a single income. In many other countries $20 USD will get you a week's worth of hot meals, here you can accidentally spend $50 running out to the grocery store for several ingredients for dinner or a half dozen frozen meals.
Lol, no it did not. 3-4 times maybe but she makes $174,000 a year as a member of the house. It's unlikely she was making half the poverty level of NYC as a bartender.
Well on her way to beating who? Who is “them all”? Are you claiming she’s making enough to beat Musk, Bezos? Is she hawking golden sneakers and shilling bitcoin scams?
If someone made half a million a year I'd say they were rich... half a million in total assets would just mean you own a home and might have something saved for retirement.
I'm not saying that it's poor, and I know that there's a good chunk of America that's "worth" less than like 10k, and probably a good number of people who are in the negative, but half a million isn't fabulously rich.
Half a million is within reach for people who didn't start out dirt poor, got an education, and a professional gig. I say this as someone who would be worth less than 10k if I didn't inherit my home. A lot of people's Net Worth Includes things that they can essentially never turn into actual money, but it still acts as a money saving asset.
In todays economy half a million is like one house, and not an expensive one, a car, some savings and puff gone… oh and the taxes… yeah the taxes would take the rest.
Half a million is not poor poor but today it’s also not rich it’s like middle class premium maybe if you are really good at managing and saving money.
Half a million is within reach for people who didn't start out dirt poor, got an education, and a professional gig.
No, it's not.
To have that kind of money you have to have been born with it, be corrupt, have won a lottery¹, and / or have been born back when the world wasn't yet as FUBARed as it is now.
1.— By winning a lottery I don't necessarily mean a literal one. I mean that out of the million people with your exact same abilities, opportunities, and circumstances you're the one lucky bastard who made it out without being chewed up and spat out by the world.
You’re right. If someone who only cares about money and their own self interest comes out as having none, well that’s just embarrassing. Having sold your soul for something you have measurably none of? Disgusting.
Luckily AOC has never done conservative shit like that. lol
Fascinating how we've reached the point where "I'm not corrupt" is somehow praiseworthy. The bar is so low it's practically a tripping hazard.
Sure, let's applaud someone for doing the bare minimum of not being blatantly corrupt. Meanwhile, the real wealth transfer happens through perfectly legal channels while we debate someone's bank balance.
Pro tip: If you're impressed by a politician not being wealthy, you might want to recalibrate your standards for public servants. But hey, at least she's not day-trading classified information, right? slow clap
Oh, the classic "what have you done?" deflection. Cute. Here's the thing: I'm not an elected official claiming moral superiority. AOC's job is to lead, not just clear the lowest ethical bar. Maybe demand more from your heroes instead of settling for mediocrity.
What's more is that generally the people know they politicians are corrupt and do absolutely nothing about. They keep voting for those corrupt politicians to boot!
It's some kind of self-deprecating cycle thst just won't end! 🤣☹️
I don't think people realize how big the crossover is between AOC and Trump. A lot of centrists that flipped were Bernie bros. that tired of stuff like identity politics and the DNC backstabbing that shafted Bernie.
How is she so fucking corrupt already?! She claims she's not wealthy and then in the next sentence says she "only has hundreds of tbousands of dollars in the bank"
If you have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank, that makes you rich
I'm starting to understand how people like Trump keep getting into office. Either you have no reading comprehension, or you're being completely disingenuous. I'm a highschool dropout making low 6 figures that's lucky enough to have a few merger assets and a 401k, and I'm "worth" more than AOC. I'm also 10 years older than her.