[Capricorn2481]

Have you actually listened to AOC? Because this entire post feels like one massive strawman. I don't think AOC has argued things were better 70 years ago, and I think you know that. She has correctly suggested the wealthiest country in the world, one that routinely exploits poorer countries, shouldn't have citizens that are afraid to call an ambulance. That's tremendous failure.

Your government budget comment is just fluff. If you actually engaged with her in good faith, you'd realize she is not someone who thinks government spending should go unchecked, and the only issue is how much it's getting. She just disagrees with the right on where it should go. For instance, it shouldn't go towards bombing a country for 3 months just to wind up paying them billions for the same deal we already had. I think we can agree having a world leader that is so easily baited into pointless conflicts is bad for our budget. But I guess we balance it out by slashing social programs.

A lot of people's interest in government budgets coincides with the introduction of DOGE. That is to say, their entire understanding of it ends with what Musk tells them. Most people have no idea how it works, and half the things they suggest are already happening. It shouldn't shock you to know some people think billionaires could pay a little more and we can be smarter about where the money goes.

[csallen]

I didn't say that AOC said that things were better 70 years ago. I said she makes it sound like people have decreasing power due to income inequality, so I'm comparing to times where income was vastly more equal, and I simply don't think her claims hold up. Your-income-relative-the-richest-people's-income is, imo, a very small factor of how much overall power you have in society as an individual, compared to the other factors I listed. Yet it is repeatedly harped on as if it's the only factor that matters.

I don't believe I said that AOC thinks government spending should go unchecked. But the vast majority of comments I've read from AOC seem to blame the plight of the poor on the success of the rich.

[Capricorn2481]

People have decreasing power because the very people AOC is targeting are nakedly taking power from us, thumbing in our faces, and then whining when they get called out on it. This goes way beyond hoarding wealth. There's no world in which Palantir exists and you can seriously argue these rich people are not our problem. I think AOC feels a way about the oligopoly that many of us do. The lobbies that flood our elections, the social media companies pumping filth to make the internet a hellscape. We do not have to pretend they need to be coddled anymore. People have had enough. Yes, they are scumbags, and they can pay more, and nobody gives a fuck if they think different. Heaven knows they deserve worse. If they acted like real human beings for even a few seconds, they would be treated like kings. But instead they ratfuck the country

The only real question is how someone can delude themselves into buying the Aw Sucks routine of the most powerful people on the planet.