{"id":783190,"date":"2026-05-09T01:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T01:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/783190\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T01:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T01:31:14","slug":"aoc-defends-you-cant-earn-a-billion-dollars-in-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/783190\/","title":{"rendered":"AOC defends ‘you can’t earn a billion dollars’ in Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sitting before a packed University of Chicago audience Friday evening in a chapel named after oil baron John D. Rockefeller, New York U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defended a recent podcast interview<\/a> in which she said, \u201cYou can\u2019t earn a billion dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

The on-brand remark from one of the standard-bearers of the Democratic Party\u2019s left flank drew the ire of The Washington Post editorial board<\/a> and prompted the opening question from political strategist David Axelrod during an hour-plus discussion hosted by the U. of C.\u2019s Institute of Politics.<\/p>\n

The comments were meant to draw attention to the extreme consolidation of wealth and \u201cabuses of market power\u201d that characterize the economic and political systems in the U.S. today, Ocasio-Cortez said. She attributed the editorial board\u2019s criticisms to the influence of the paper\u2019s multibillionaire owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo working people, \u2018earn\u2019 means something: the calluses on your hands, the aches of your joints, the way that we earn ourselves through school,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez said, adding: \u201cI think that we are in an \u2019emperor with no clothes\u2019 moment when it comes to the American economy and our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ocasio-Cortez<\/a>, widely regarded as a potential candidate in 2028 for the Democratic presidential nomination, steered clear of addressing whether her critiques applied to another possible\u00a0White House contender, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker<\/a>, whose fortune, Forbes estimates, now stands at $4.3 billion.<\/p>\n

When Axelrod read an excerpt from the Post editorial that raised the rhetorical question of whether \u201cthe FBI should investigate Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker,\u201d the four-term congresswoman said her critique is not focused on individuals but rather \u201cthe system that allows this mass concentration of wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"U.S.U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks to people gathered at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel as part of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics speaker series at the university on May 8, 2026. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want us to get into this quibbling of the morality of any individual person instead of the immorality of the fact that there (is) virtually no place in America where you can afford an apartment on a full-time job on minimum wage,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of megabillionaires and their industries has created an environment ripe for abuse, Ocasio-Cortez said, pointing to the cozy relationship between President Donald Trump\u2019s administration and the tech industry as an example.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the embodiment of political corruption happening in this administration,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her prescriptions were a forceful recitation of the left\u2019s economic agenda: get big money out of politics and kill super political action committees; break up corporate monopolies through aggressive antitrust enforcement; tax the wealthy at rates not seen since earlier eras of U.S. history; and overhaul the judiciary by codifying ethics rules or expanding the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

The wide-ranging conversation with Axelrod also touched on other top issues of the day, including the recent Supreme Court decision limiting racial considerations<\/a> in congressional redistricting, Friday\u2019s decision by Virginia\u2019s high court to throw out new voter-approved<\/a> district lines that favored Democrats, and the rising influence and power of the artificial intelligence industry.<\/p>\n

When Axelrod raised the prospect of Ocasio-Cortez running for president or for the New York Senate seat currently held by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in 2028, the latter drew a slightly more enthusiastic response from the U. of C. audience.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople listen as U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel as part of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics speaker series at the university, May 8, 2026. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Like Pritzker and others whose names frequently come up in discussions of the 2028 Democratic field, Ocasio-Cortez, who last year traveled the country with Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie on the \u201cFight Oligarchy\u201d tour, was noncommittal about her future political plans.<\/p>\n

Ocasio-Cortez said her \u201cambition is way bigger\u201d than any particular seat or title.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy ambition is to change this country,\u201d she said. \u201cPresidents come and go, Senate, House seats, elected officials come and go, but single-payer healthcare\u2019s forever, a living wage is forever, workers\u2019 rights are forever, women\u2019s rights, all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ocasio-Cortez was not the only possible 2028 Democratic presidential candidate in Chicago on Friday. Earlier in the day, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg addressed<\/a> a convention of civic technology workers at a hotel in the South Loop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sitting before a packed University of Chicago audience Friday evening in a chapel named after oil baron John…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":783191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[11338,15082,960,5386,1818,12084,277,320387,11608],"class_list":{"0":"post-783190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-alexandria-ocasio-cortez","9":"tag-aoc","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-illinois","13":"tag-jb-pritzker","14":"tag-trump","15":"tag-u-of-c","16":"tag-university-of-chicago"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116542039245448249","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}