AOC Bemoans 'The Extreme Wealth Inequality In America That Has Been Growing For Years'

Forbes Breaking News

At a "Fight Oligarchy" event in Nampa, Idaho on Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) spoke about growing income inequality in the United States.

Transcript

00:00You know, Idaho, I am so touched being here. I'm a girl from the Bronx.

00:16And to be welcomed here in this state, all of us together,

00:21seeing our common cause, this is what this country is all about.

00:25Don't let them trick us into thinking we are enemies.

00:33Don't let them trick us into thinking we can be separated into rural and urban.

00:40Black and right and Latino, we are one.

00:47And we make these demands because we do have power in this moment.

00:52All of us do. Everyday people do. And it will never – this is important – it will never be

01:02just institutions and politicians and officials alone that uphold our democracy.

01:09It will always be the people, the masses,

01:13who refuse to comply with authoritarian regimes, who are the last and strongest defense of our

01:21country and our freedoms. It is you. It is you, Idaho.

01:26We know that a better world is possible. And we are willing to do something about it.

01:39But to get there, we need to be honest about how we got to where we are right now. Because this moment did

01:46not come out of nowhere. It has been a long time coming. The destruction of our rights and democracy

01:56is directly tied to the growing and extreme wealth inequality in America that has been building for years.

02:05And it is not a coincidence that billionaires like Elon Musk

02:17dumped billions into this election to elect Trump. And he sure as hell ain't doing it out of charity, Idaho.

02:25For years, we have known that our political system has slowly but surely become dominated by big money

02:35and billionaires. And time after time, we've seen how our government and laws are more responsive to

02:44lobbyists and corporations than the will of everyday people and voters.

02:49And we also know that the agenda of dark money to keep wages low and loot our public goods to give to

03:00the rich is deeply unpopular with the people, Democrat, Independent and Republican alike.

03:10But just look at what Republicans have been quietly doing in Congress,

03:15voting to advance cuts on hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid and veterans benefits.

03:26So they can take that money and give it to billionaires in the form of tax cuts

03:31and sweetheart government contracts to their own companies like SpaceX.

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