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 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.
Comfortable but not extravagantly wealthy from
bribeslobbying. I’m okay with this.Honestly 500k net in the DC area is low if anything.
It’s probably low in any metro area in 2025, sadly.
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
AOC is doing the bare minimum?
Care to enlighten everyone what you’ve been doing these last few years? Must be something really special and meaningful.
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.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the internet manifest:
1- blame her for having millions due to kickbacks
2- when she proves that her net worth is less than 500K make fun of her for having too little money
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~
Median property value in DC is $705,000.
She’s likely living paycheck to paycheck as a sitting member of Congress. I like it.
Finally, some actual representation.
Shes so goddamn normal it’s jarring
The pot accuses a bottle of milk of looking black
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.
Gaslight
Obstruct
Project <-- we are here
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.
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.
I didn’t realize it was that part of the circus where conservative centrists clowns do a bit for us to laugh at them for.
Neither did I, turns out that yes and you are the clown. Why - because you’ve used a long comment for the sole purpose of “friend-or-foe” determination. I dunno how to call people doing that. If all this was incomprehensible for you - I’m not a conservative.
Im not the clown wasting their breath attacking one of the only politicians who is actually resisting the fascist takeover and destruction of the US government literally happening as you rant emptily about “inveitable” eventualities of AOC’s policies.
You could not pick a better moment to demonstrate how fundamentally unserious your politics are in this context.
Wake the fuck up and realize who your actual enemies are, you dangerous fool.
It feels like all the people here criticizing her for fantastical or illogical reasons (usually a mixture of both) are just envious of her.
They would all also get hilariously demolished by her on a debate about policy and political strategy.
…which honestly it never gets old for me watching progressive leaders like her dress down people like this to their face.
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.
The US economy gets nuked every 8-12 years thanks to private equity and boom-bust capital trends. MMT just moves the ball out of the hands of a cartel of hedge funds and into the hands of the US Treasury. I’ll happily agree that its not sufficient to solving the problem of malinvestment and industrial waste. But that’s precisely because its an extension of Keynesian-cum-Friedmanite monetary theory of economics. At some point, you have to take account of real assets, not just float around fictitious capital.
if USD as a currency takes a 10000x inflation in a year
You don’t get inflation like that under Eisenhower/Carter era tax laws. MMT, in practice, is still predicated on some degree of currency recapture. You’re just replacing credit elasticity through private lenders with spending elasticity through public spenders. “Here’s a $500k loan, build a house and pay me back at 6% APY” isn’t meaningfully different than “Here’s a $500k grant, built a house and your builders are going to pay me back 6% VAT”.
Except that’s not the way people like AOC promise.
AOC promises a large public investment in value-adding infrastructure. She’s just proposing direct payment rather than tax-incentivized private investment.
She’s just proposing
direct paymentactually investing in Americans rather thantax-incentivized private investmenttaking bribes to give all the public coffers to corpo goons.ftfy
The US economy gets nuked every 8-12 years
Reminds me of that Hashek quote about “sir, you’ve taken the pollen of my innocence” from a girl whose shoulder a boy touched.
Anyway, maybe you’re right.
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.
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That’s because she’s actually trying to help people, and you don’t get rich helping people.
Well obviously you do. Or she isnt trying to help people. She admitted to having hundreds of thousands of dollars
Honestly this is comedy gold,
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
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.
I mean… 200K-300K-ish can get you a
livablesurvivable place in an okay part of Philly… like there is no “drug dealers” in my area, its not lile “the wire”, its not Baltimore, it just… “Okay” not good, not bad.(15 years ago it was like 100K to 200K). I’ve never heard a gunshot in 15 years living here (or maybe I did and though it was fireworks, who knows). My mom got robbed once. That’s it. Its not a terrible place to live. I mean, I haven’t died, so… 🤷♂️But yea, there are places (like NYC) that’s unlivable, housing in NYC is just insane, its why we had to move out of NYC. (Brooklyn btw)
It’s clear he didn’t read the article, but it’s necessary to point out she doesn’t even 500k- it is assets, which means she’s as far down the hole as the rest of us.
With that amount of money she could not stop working now and live comfortably off of her funds for the rest of her life in the US. She is not rich.
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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.
Ikr? My mom is worth that probably but we barely making it.
It should be, but it isn’t. You’re out of touch with what most people have.
It seems like you may be conflating having ~$500k net worth with being rich, which may not have been your intent, but it seemed that way based on context. I think what the other responder is getting at is that AOC is not rich. She may have a house, a car, and some retirement saved up. All of those are assets, but they do not translate into the kind of liquidity that many other American politicians have.
She was working class before she entered into politics, and some would argue that she still is based on her work and advocacy. I don’t want to sound like I’m accusing your of anything, or putting words in your mouth, because that’s not my intent; I just want to point out a common belief held by a lot of Americans. Lumping someone in with the rich and then holding them in contempt merely because that person is richer than you is exactly the kind of us-versus-them mentality the ruling class wants us to have.
She is rich. There is nothing inherently wrong with being rich. There is something wrong with being a lawmaker who is so out of touch with poor people that you dont realize your own privileges
Can you explain why you think she is out of touch with poor people? I’m genuinely curious, because you may know something about her that I don’t, and if she’s as secretly two-faced as Sinema and Manchin, or has done something to actively denigrate or undermine the working class, I want to be informed.
I understand that most poor people feel overlooked, ignored, and exploited by the rich, and that’s because that is exactly what they do–but their greatest trick is to make us think that it’s not their fault that we are poor. Please look again to the last sentence of my reply: Holding someone in contempt merely because they are richer than you is exactly what the billionaires want you to do, because it distracts and redirects anger away from them, and is just another tool they use to make the working class fight amongst themselves.
She isnt richer than me. I have more money than she does.
I dont care if someone has money. That doesn’t make you a bad person. The issue is that she isnt aware how rich she is. That’s out of touch with reality.
There is something wrong with being a lawmaker who is so out of touch with poor people that you dont realize your own privileges
What are you basing this on? Did you personally speak with AOC?
In the article she said she has hundreds of thousands of dollars and also said she’s not rich
Edit: she didn’t say she’s not rich. She said she’s not a millionaire
Sure, but your claim rests on a specific definition of what rich is. The notion that her gross assets, not liquidity, are such that she is in not of the working class (her assets produce enough wealth to live upon) glosses over the obscene wealth, corruption, and hoarding that the purpose of the conversation is trying to convey. “Yeah, but other Americans are poorer” is whataboutism in the face of someone interested in adresssing wealth disparity.
If you’re surrounded by people who are millionaires and that becomes your definition of “rich” then you’ve become so out of touch with reality.
There is a difference between someone with hundreds of thousands of dollars of net worth and someone with billions. Both are fucking rich.
The middle class is so far gone in the US that people like you have difficulty remembering what it looks like.
Your idea of a middle class is about as fictional as the idea of the American Dream.
If you can get bankrupted by an illness, you’re not rich.
Yup and I can say by experience that even making 180K at a fortune 500 company, that makes you still not rich when medical shit goes south.
By that definition, nobody is rich. You can spend 200 billion dollars trying to fight cancer and still die.
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.
Obligated? Most people have to wipe out their retirement funds when they get sick or have to bury their parents
Yes, that’s what they meant by “obligated.”
Our system as it currently exists forces, or “obligates,” people to have large rainy day funds.
Man I miss when we had pensions. Wish we had more unions.
The trick is taking them away slowly enough that every new generation of workers doesn’t even know what they’re missing.
Line must go up, after all.
What’s that, we’re being outpaced on a global scale such that our under-educated workers will soon no longer be able to rely on “We speak English without an accent?”
That’s a problem for after I’m dead, so I’m not worried about it!
Yeah, I really hope the younger generation gets their shit together and do what my generation couldn’t.
Man tried once at my software/engineering place, did not get very far at all unfortunately.
Very few people have this
Right, so you’re just confrontationally agreeing with UnderpantsWeevil and me.
Damn man, learn to read an article.
Too bad she doesn’t have hundreds of thousands of MILLIONS of dollars or she could really help the little guy like Musk and his administration.
Accusations of political corruption have surged online, partly fueled by Elon Musk.
Lol, says the guy who’s currently at the top of corrupting world-politics…
AKA, every accusation is a confession
she is worth less than $500,000
That sounds like a lot of money still, but I’d imagine public figures can easily leverage that to wealth so makes sense
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.
I’m the ass end of Gen-X and even I need to have at least 1.5 million to retire relatively comfortable so I’m thinking that 1 million isn’t going to be enough for Millennials.
I’m roughly around that age, too, and yeah, that’s about what I’m looking at. Even that makes certain assumptions about the US economy that may not hold for a few more decades.
Read a little insight a while back. When boomers dreamed of being a millionaire, they dreamed of yachts and penthouse suites. When Millennials dream of being a millionaire, they dream of getting by OK without the rat race.
Uhm, it’s her own damn words (from the article):
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.
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1887197530573717552
She specifically decided to say “less than half million” which sounded a lot to me.
Sigh…
Even when putting up literally text and numbers, you can’t read or math.
Alright let’s break it down.
45,000 savings + 125000 government 401k = 170,000
Now let’s compare numbers here. 500,000 is a bigger number than 170,000
So what she said, given our known facts and assumptions, what she said is absolutely true. She’s not with half a million, she’s worth 170,000 USD and a 125,000 of that isn’t even really available to her because it’s a retirement savings account.
For fucks sake, she’s wasn’t saying she had 500,000 dollars in cash on her. She was being ever so slightly hyperbolic to make a point that she’s not rich.
Cripes, reading is so fundamental.
I don’t know if you get that I’m reacting to what she said. Saying she isn’t worth “even” half a million sounded a lot to me since I didn’t realize the average was so high in the US. It sounded high for saying you’re not worth “even” that. Idk if you get what I mean.
But really you’re getting bent out of shape over something very unnecessary. I suggest calming down.
RTFA.
It’s amazing that you still don’t get what’s happening.
It’s amazing you still can’t math.
How does “I’m not even worth half a million” mean “I have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank” to people. I don’t get it.
If you have a retirement account and a home, you’re probably worth more than that anyway.
The name Kusimulkku is very much Finnish (it means peehole). Houses don’t all cost half a million dollars there and retirement is funded through taxation. 500k net worth in Finland is comparable to being a millionaire in the US I would say. You would probably have 6 digits in your bank account OR own majority of a small company if you’re worth 500k.
A lot of people also don’t count their only residence as part of their net worth as it’s their home, not an investment vehicle and definitely not liquid. Things change when you can afford multiple properties, but you aren’t going to sell your only home just because it has appreciated - everything else has likely also gone up then.
Just saying, his perspective coule be very different from yours. I know this because I’m Estonian and 500k to me sounds like a pretty high net worth.
Houses don’t all cost half a million dollars there and retirement is funded through taxation.
I suppose we could be cheeky, take Solidium - the Finnish sovereign wealth fund - and amortize assets across the population as “collective wealth”. But holding individuals with 401ks to account for being “rich” because they’re doing the only legally expedient form of retirement savings is absurd, I agree.
I think my point is more along the lines of “I don’t even have half a million dollars” doesn’t imply to me that they have half a million dollars.
Hmm to me it implies it’s close though. Maybe 300k, maybe 400k. At her age it would be an impressive where I come from.
I think if she anchored it different, I might think like you. But “I don’t have a million; not half a million either” doesn’t imply to me it’s close. Maybe like 100k. But saying that she said she’s worth so much and quoting her saying “I’m not even worth X” as the proof is nonsense. Especially in response to someone with quotes from the article stating that it’s like $125k.
Cripes read, she has 170k total.
Who said it does? You’re confusing me here
Anyone who owns a home is probably worth more than that.
She doesn’t even own her own home, or she lives in a shark at that value. No second property: no cottage or landlording.
I was hoping she lived in a van down by the river.
Man, starting to show your age there. :)
I’m not old. It’s still a relevant reference that is used now a days. Right?
lives in a shark at that value.
Well that’s certainly a choice…
It’s gonna bite her in the ass.
She has to have two places one in DC and one in her district. She like.y cannot afford that at her salary as both places are extremely expensive
Well, according to the rules, she does. A lot of congress critters live in their DC office. It’s against city health code regulations, but there’s nobody who can tell them no. It’s the worst kept secret in Washington.
I don’t know if AOC herself does this or not.
Damn renting twice?
Yeah Manhattan rent for office and home plus DC home. That has to be half of that salary right there.
edit: Two rents Im wrong about the office apparently.
District offices are paid for from House office budgets.
Thanks I edited my comment
Man Americans are worth a shitload on average
You have to fund your own retirement. The social safety net is constantly threatening to be removed and it doesn’t cover much to start with. And homes are stupid expensive. Especially in the places where AOC has to have places to live.
That we can’t afford to use because we don’t have a safety net.
My net worth is probably just under half a million but I’ll be working until I’m over 70 if I want to be able to pass anything useful down to my kids.
I have one with special needs that likely won’t be able to work, much less manage a portfolio.Without my help he could be homeless soon after I pass.
It’s amazing how so much of our wealth is tied up in “assets” as opposed to liquid cash. I probably have just slightly less in assets than AOC at the moment, but I also don’t own a home, so if I ever managed to buy one my net worth would skyrocket beyond hers but I’d be housepoor and most likely living paycheck to paycheck. I’m not even close to being considered conventionally wealthy, and the distance between me and a billionaire is almost literally unfathomable.
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.
No, I live in Finland
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).
I agree we should probably use a different term for that,
That’s literally all I said. I know what it means
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.
Bitch is rich, Jesus I didn’t realize she’s also a plutocrat
500k in assets is not rich. Jesus Christ, stop fucking crying all over this thread.
But that’s what conservatives do? Whine about everything without any facts.
Careful, your privilege is showing. Most people live paycheck to paycheck, and you’re completely out of touch with reality
Tell us, oh financial genius, what is the exact $ number of assets held that constitutes “rich”?
Its not up to me. Its up to what most people would consider rich.
Most people live paycheck to paycheck and many have net worth in negatives.
Still waiting, big guy.
Most people live paycheck to paycheck and many have net worth in negatives.
While you’re at it, let’s see the source for this claim.
Its up to what most people would consider rich.
Which is what number, exactly? Back your claim up.
Apparent it’s any dollar amount over 10 bucks a year and anyone who can invest any amount in a 401k.
Says the guy posting on Lemmy in the middle of the work day.
Oh, I’m rich. I know it. I dont pretend not to be rich.
Careful you’re privilege will start showing as you find leisure time through the working day. People might start thinking your some bougie asshole.
Being privliged isnt being evil. Its when you’re not aware of your own privileges and it affects your decisions (especially as a law maker) that its an issue
Says the bougie asshole lecturing people about being poor and not understanding how actual people live.
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.
We’re talking net worth, not income.
I have a few hundred thousand in the bank, and I’m very aware that most of my friends and family consider me rich.
Dude… what do you think net worth is? Her income is higher than mine.
We’re talking net worth, not income.
I have a few hundred thousand in the bank, and I’m very aware that most of my friends and family consider me rich.
Oh, you are a bougie asshole trying to slum it down here with us then and you still can’t read a damn article.
Complaining about a 125K 401K makes you rich.
That 175K annual income makes you rich.
Complaining we’re all out of touch with poor people.
And you’re just a bougie asshole playing pauper for the day.
And probably lying about that too.
Wut
Well this is the dumbest, “I don’t know how to read” comment so far of the day.
The job of being in congress pays 174k per year, so having some amount of money after doing that job for multiple years is inevitable.
AOC is one of the most outspoken leftists in the government. If anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt it is her.
Then she should realize that she’s rich compared to most US Americans. Obviously the wealth went to her head and now she’s out of touch with reality
Idk man, she is fighting daily for the middle class, and is consistently against billionaires existing. That’s sort of her whole thing. If anything she seems more in touch with the issues regular people face more than anyone in Congress.
This feels like a bad faith attempt to find something not to like about her.
Oh, I agree she’s more in touch than the others. But thats a damn low bar.
Based on what?
Then she should realize that she’s rich compared to most US Americans
How do you know she doesn’t?
Do you just hate women?
That 500k net worth of hers isn’t sitting in a bank account waiting to be spent, moron.
Not even 500K, 125K in government 401K, 45K in savings and private 401K
