![Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.](https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c472aa02bdd7f325f5119a6-1280/2018-11-07t033718z961904636rc1386941af0rtrmadp3usa-election-new-york.jpg)
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued that a society that allows billionaires to exist while some Americans live in abject poverty is "immoral."
- She argued that Americans shouldn't normalize economic inequality by idealizing the super-rich during a conversation with author Ta-Nehisi Coates at an event honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday.
- This comes after the New York Democrat suggested the US should hike marginal tax rates on those making more than $10 million.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued that a society that "allows billionaires to exist" while some Americans live in abject poverty is "immoral."
"I'm not saying that Bill Gates or Warren Buffet are immoral, but a system that allows billionaires to exist when there are parts of Alabama where people are still getting ringworm because they don't have access to public health is wrong," Ocasio-Cortez said during a Monday $4 honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday.
The 29-year-old lawmaker argued that the existence of billionaires is a byproduct of skyrocketing economic inequality, and suggested that Americans shouldn't strive to become super-rich.
"Maybe this idea of idealizing this outcome of 'Maybe one day you too can be a billionaire and earn more than millions of families combined' is not an aspirational or good thing,'" she said during her MLK Day conversation with author Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Ocasio-Cortez, who stunned the political world when she beat longtime incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in New York's Democratic primary last June, centered her candidacy around economic justice.
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Her policy platform includes a host of bold proposals - including a federal jobs guarantee and Medicare for All - that would alleviate poverty and economic inequality. And along with a growing faction of Democratic candidates, she banned corporate PAC money from her campaign.
She's not the first prominent Democrat to scrutinize the role of billionaires and the super-rich in American society and
Ocasio-Cortez has long argued - like Sanders and Warren - that poverty and a lack of social mobility are the most foundational injustices in American society.
"I think it's wrong that the majority of the country doesn't make a living wage, I think it's wrong that you can work 100 hours and not feed your kids," Ocasio-Cortez told Coates. "I think it's wrong that corporations like Walmart and Amazon can get paid by the government, experiencing a wealth transfer from the public, for paying people less than a minimum wage."
One of the new congresswoman's policy advisers, Dan Riffle, uses the Twitter handle "Every Billionaire Is A Policy Failure" and said Monday that he hopes Ocasio-Cortez can start a new conversation in the Democratic Party around targeting the super-rich.
"My goal for this year is to get a moderator to ask 'Is it morally appropriate for anyone to be a billionaire?' at one of the Dem primary debates," Riffle $4. "Ta-Nehisi just asked @aoc that question on stage at #MLKNow so we're getting somewhere. She said it isn't btw."
Ocasio-Cortez made waves when she announced her support for a 60-70% marginal tax rate on annual income above $10 million earlier this month. Conservatives have characterized the proposal as radical socialism, while many progressive economists and Democrats have praised the idea.
Recent polling, including $4, has found strong support for hiking marginal tax rates on the super-rich.
"The question of marginal tax rates is a policy question but it's also a moral question," Ocasio-Cortez said during her talk with Coates. "What kind of society do we want to live in? Are we comfortable with a society where someone can have a personal helipad while this city is experiencing the highest levels of poverty and homelessness since the Great Depression?"
Ta Nehisi-Coates: "Do we live in a moral world that allows for billionaires? Is that a moral outcome?"$4: "No, it's not." $4
- Waleed Shahid (@_waleedshahid) $4