Hello Poor Richard Saunders,
Originally Posted by
Poor Richard Saunders
When looking at the actual video, it's clear she isn't saying that unemployment is based on number of jobs people have.
https://www.pbs.org/video/alexandria...cortez-barhhq/
The question is asked at about 5:45 in the video. Her response in context is...
Reporter:
You talk about the top vs the bottom not the left vs the right. Now the economy is going pretty strong, right? There's roughly 4% unemployment, 3.9% unemployment. Do you think that Capitalism has failed to deliver for working class Americans or is no longer the best vehicle for working class Americans.
AOC:
Well, I think the numbers that you just talked about are part of the problem, right? Because we look at those figures, and we say, "Oh, unemployment is low. Everything is fine, right? Well unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their kids. And so, I do think right now when we have this no-holds-barred Wild West hypercapitalism, what that means is profit at any cost.
In context, she clearly is not saying that is how unemployment works. She is saying that people are working more than they should to survive. You can attack her for her choice of words that are wrong when taken out of context but you can't say she doesn't know how unemployment is calculated when you actually watch the video.
Good point. She was never asked the question: "Why is unemployment low?"
She was not answering that question.
She was asked if capitalism is no longer the best vehicle for working class Americans.
It could be argued that she was trying to say that it is indicative. If unemployment was high, people wouldn't be able to get so many jobs.
I agree, the way she said it, if you take that sentence out of the context, as a stand alone sentence, it is incorrect.
But overall, she made her point well in explaining why her message of representing the working class in speaking truth to big money and power was resonating in her campaign.
I'm surprised Flash didn't jump on the statement she made later on about the USA not having been a capitalist nation when the USA first began. She didn't explain that, but I wonder if she was thinking about slavery, which is definitely not capitalist.
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