Actually there's only 2 problems with Ocasio-Cortez.
Problem #1: She is Bernie Sanders.
Her Democratic-Socialist platform is in line with Sanders' philosophy. She just comes in a much nicer package, speaks more eloquently, and appeals to a broader cross-section of Americans.
Problem #2: Democratic-Socialists are bad at Math.
FoxNews recently ran a synopsis of Ocasi-Cortez's platform and she quickly complimented the news outlet for their accuracy. Let's review her platform in a very simplistic manner.
Medicare for All: Excuse my ignorance, but isn't this in the same ballpark as ObamaCare? What was underreported is that ObamaCare passed its Supreme Court Challenge for the simple fact that the Roberts led-majority ruled that ObamaCare was a Tax. The left howled that it wasn't a tax and the right howled that ObamaCare should have been struck down.
RESULT: Taxes go up.
Housing as a Human Right: Everyone gets housing? This is an easy one.
RESULT: Taxes go up.
A Federal Jobs Guarantee: Guaranteed jobs? You need to create jobs, then pay everyone to work them. While hiring people to supervise those guaranteed employees.
RESULT: Taxes go up.
Gun Control: Violation of the First Amendment.
RESULT: Thrown out in Court.
End Private Prisons:
The whole ruse of moving to a private prison system was to save money. I don't necessarily disagree with Ocasio- Cortex's view that government should be running prisons and not private companies. But....
RESULT: Taxes go up.
Abolish ICE: I think we should keep ICE, but let's give her credit for actually wanting to save money on something.
RESULT: Taxes go down.
Solidarity with Puerto Rico: Simple solidarity and support. Free. Making Puerto Rico a state and absorbing their crushing debt?
RESULT: Taxes go up.
Mobilizing Against Climate Change: Leaving a zero carbon footprint? Who pays for that? (And again, America could leave a zero carbon footprint and China alone could exacerbate Global Warming.)
RESULT: Taxes go up.
Clean Campaign Finance: Every law you pass to curb campaign finance abuses opens up another loophole. Clean Campaign Finance is like saying "I want World Peace." How does that happen? "Ummmm??"
RESULT: Tax Neutral.
Higher Education for All:
Do you know how expensive college is?
If everyone has a degree, who's cleaning the toilets?
RESULT: Taxes go up.
Women's Rights &
Supporting LGBTQIA+: Free. These two issues are more about changing attitudes than raising taxes. LGBTQIA+ Rights have come a long way in the past generation. We're going to give Ocasio-Cortez the benefit of the doubt and say she wants to just change attitudes. If she legislates Women's Rights and LGBTQIA+ Rights, that could potentially raise taxes.
RESULT: Tax Neutral
Support Seniors: Free. Unless supporting seniors is code for raising retirement benefits. In that case...
RESULT: Taxes go up.
Curb Wall Street Gambling - Restore Glass-Steagall: I don't pretend to know a lot about banking regulations. And I don't know if Ocasio-Cortez wants banking to return to the intent of the original Glass-Steagall concept, but even some Republicans welcome it's return. If she means the spirit of the original law... that means....uh...that means....
Oh, who are we kidding.
RESULT: We don't know.
Only one platform results in less spending and that's the abolishment of ICE. And a whooping 25% of Americans support that bullet point. So you voted for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's whole platform. Socialism is now here. What does that mean for you? Well, if you're poor, you now have access to opportunities that you didn't have before. But now that socialism is in effect, you can't just tax the rich, there's just not enough money for that. Rich or poor, everyone is contributing to the common good. The poor now have a tax rate of 50%, the middle class 65% and the rich 80%. And even that may not be enough money to pay for all your new government mandated programs.
You and me, we're stuck. The Rich? They ain't stickin' around for that 80% tax hit. You would see the greatest flight OUT of AMERICA in American History. Ocasio-Cortez would counter "where would they go?"
Really?
The 1% have multiple houses in multiple countries. They could easily move to Toronto, London, or St. George. They could still work in America while living abroad. Mark Zuckerberg would be out of here so fast your head would spin.
If you believe in limited government, Ocasio-Cortez should scare the crap out of you. If you think that the government is doing a great job, by all means vote that Socialist Agenda. Now the problem is, how many of you think that the government is doing a bang up job now? How's it going to improve if it's even BIGGER?
Editor's Note: The erosion of liberty is often taken is small steps. Let's play out this Socialism is now Afoot Scenario and the rich have fled in droves. You still don't have enough money for all of the programs outlined above. The next generation of Ocasio-Cortezes scream, "you haven't given ENOUGH money to make this work." The next step is Communism and ALL your pay is gone.
Do you trust government to run all aspects of your life? (You only have to answer this question for yourself.)
If you're a Socialist and walking away from this article saying "biased Fred Hunt with more of his Libertarian b.s. All you have to do is cut defense spending in half, if not more."
Okay, let's flesh out that argument a little more, thinking I'm just throwing out random tax numbers. The U.S. Military is the Largest Employer in the World. Not the U.S., the world. We absolutely SHOULD cut the military budget. 2018's budget for the Department of Defense is around $575 Billion. It's a big chunk of the $2 to 2.5 Trillion of Income Taxes we collect in a year. Let's cut the defense budget 90%, down to $50 Billion. (I don't recommend cuts that deep, but, again, for the sake of argument.) You saved $500 Billion and have almost no defense.
Now the average cost of college at a State University is around $10,000 a year. There are around 50 Million full- and part- time college student in America. Meaning, on the VERY low end of the estimate scale, you just spent 500 Billion to pay for "free" college.
Average Cost for college $10,000 x 50,000,000 students = 500,000,000,000
Now you have decimated the Armed Services for free college. Meaning you just upped the unemployment rate (all the unemployed servicemen) sending many of them into the arms of America's largest PRIVATE employer, WalMart.
You have a skeleton force for a National Defense, but taxes haven't gone up yet. Now take the top 3 points of Ocasio- Cortex's platform: Medicare, Universal Housing, and Federal Jobs Guarantee.
Each one of those points would easily top a Trillion Dollars Each. In order to implement these programs, you're going to have to raise taxes, there's no two ways about it. Take the Federal Jobs Guarantee, for example. A federal job, at the low end, would be around $50,000. There are around 6 Million unemployed in America today. Those unemployed want good jobs, not a job at McDonald's, who is also hiring. 300,000,000,000. $300 Billion just to pay those wages.
Federal Job $50,000 x 6,000,000 unemployed = 300,000,000,000
That doesn't include infrastructure costs, administration costs, and actually performing these imaginary jobs. (You have to pay rent... for the buildings... that house these said jobs.) And, don't forget, those people working at McDonald's just quit so they could make that guaranteed wage. People would be quitting minimum wage jobs in droves. Now unemployment is skyrocketing, with those unemployed now including military personnel and recent minimum wage defectors. Now you have to expand your cost estimates.....
I could easily argue implementing all of Ocasio- Cortex's programs would cost well over 10 TRILLION dollars A YEAR. Meaning you'd have to increase the tax burden, at least, 5 fold.
And that doesn't even start to include paying down the national debt....
So you want America to be like the Socialist Utopia of Sweden, with a tax rate around 60%? There's too many people in America for that to work here. The math doesn't work. In order for all of Ocasio-Cortex's promises to be fulfilled, you might have to go straight to communism.
Communism, you know, the system that killed nearly 100,000,000 of its own citizens in the 20th century alone. If you think that's an exaggeration and just Socialism will work fine, go ahead and look what's going on in Venezuela today.
I am not an economist. I welcome Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex to show me her math where her proposals would work in a country of over 300 million.
Addendum: July 30, 2018
Addendum II: September 16, 2018
Nearly 2 months after Beacon of Speech questioned Ocasio-Cortez's math, CNN asked her the same question. Where would you get $40 Trillion over 10 years?
Her reply (predictably) "raise taxes on the rich and the corporations."
It took CNN 2 months to figure out that her math was bad? And then they didn't question her when it is obvious that just taxing the rich and corporations won't be enough?