New York Democrat Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is really bad at math.
Over the weekend, the 29-year-old socialist cited a highly misleading report from the leftist outlet The Nation, which stated that Pentagon accounting errors totaled $21 trillion.
“In all, at least a mind-boggling $21 trillion of Pentagon financial transactions between 1998 and 2015 could not be traced, documented, or explained,” the piece stated.
Ocasio-Cortez argued that the United States should have used that money to fund the $32 trillion “Medicare for All” plan that she supports.
“$21 TRILLION of Pentagon financial transactions ‘could not be traced, documented, or explained.’ $21T in Pentagon accounting errors. Medicare for All costs ~$32T. That means 66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon. And that’s before our premiums,” she tweeted.
$21 TRILLION of Pentagon financial transactions “could not be traced, documented, or explained.”
$21T in Pentagon accounting errors. Medicare for All costs ~$32T.
That means 66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon.
And that’s before our premiums. https://t.co/soT6GSmDSG
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 2, 2018
It didn’t take long for numerous people to immediately rebuke her argument, which was even more embarrassing given she will officially become a member of Congress next month.
Manhattan Institute’s Brian Riedl responded to Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet in complete disbelief and noted that the Department of Defense hasn’t spent $21 trillion since it was created over 70 years ago.
“Wow. You claim $21 Trillion in Pentagon Waste? The entire Pentagon budget from 1789-2018 has totaled $18 trillion. Come on, This is embarrassing,” Riedl wrote.
He added in a second tweet: “For those wondering: In the original study, $21 trillion refers to transfers back-and-forth between accounts. So the same $1 can be counted 1000’s of times. It *does not* mean that $21 trillion in total spending was mis-spent. AOC should have realized $21T *spent* is crazy.”
For those wondering:
In the original study, $21 trillion refers to transfers back-and-forth between accounts. So the same $1 can be counted 1000's of times. It *does not* mean that $21 trillion in total spending was mis-spent.AOC should have realized $21T *spent* is crazy.
— Brian Riedl 🧀 🇺🇦 (@Brian_Riedl) December 3, 2018
Riedl’s point is that while there’s wasteful spending in all federal agencies, it’s utterly embarrassing that a soon-to-be member of Congress has no basic budgetary familiarity.
Ocasio-Cortez had no earthly idea that it is mathematically impossible for the Pentagon, which had a budget of $500 billion in that time frame, to waste $21 trillion.
Her strikingly erroneous tweet is just one of many flabbergasting things she has said recently.
Last week, the New York socialist said her election victory was like the moon landing and the Civil Rights movement.
Prior to that, the Democratic darling tweeted that she wants 5,000 caseworkers sent to the U.S.-Mexico border instead of American troops.
She also argued that the migrant caravan swarming the border is comparable to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.
Earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez also said people are going to die soon if the U.S. doesn’t address climate change, claimed Republicans criticizing her on Twitter are “stalking” her, and bizarrely told her supporters that Democrats need help to taking back “all three chambers of Congress.”
This is also the same person who said “you just pay for it” when asked how to fund the multi-billion dollar “Medicare for all” plan that she and other far-left Democrats support.
According to a study from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, the “Medicare for all” plan would increase government health care spending by $32.6 trillion over 10 years.
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