Ocasio-Cortez Gets Roasted After ‘Strikingly Erroneous’ Claim

Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tried Sunday to explain how Pentagon accounting errors somehow justified the existence of a $32 trillion government healthcare system and failed miserably.

Ocasio-Cortez’s mental gymnastics were based off an excerpt of an article from the far-left publication, The Nation, which stated:

In all, at least a mind-boggling $21 trillion of Pentagon financial transactions between 1998 and 2015 could not be traced, documented, or explained, concluded Skidmore.

Ocasio-Cortez 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.”

$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 (@Ocasio2018) December 2, 2018

Brian Riedl, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, explained why Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet was utter lunacy, noting that the Department of Defense has not even spent $21 trillion in the over 70 years that it has existed.

Riedl noted that the entire Pentagon budget from 1789-2018 has only totaled $18 trillion, which is based on records from the Office of Management and Budget.

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

“There is certainly waste to cut from defense and all other federal departments,” Riedl told The Daily Wire. “But Members of Congress should have the basic budgetary familiarity to understand that a $500 billion department (over the period covered) cannot waste $21 trillion.”

Bloomberg reporter Steven Dennis also ripped Ocasio-Cortez over her math skills, writing: “Like, $21T is more than the ***entire defense spending*** in that time period. And no, you can’t use money we’ve already spent to pay for a future program because instead we are paying interest on the debt-financed spending we’ve already spent. Just so much bad math.”

Like, $21T is more than the ***entire defense spending*** in that time period. And no, you can't use money we've already spent to pay for a future program because instead we are paying interest on the debt-financed spending we've already spent. Just so much bad math.

— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) December 2, 2018

David Boaz, Executive Vice President of The Cato Institute, also weighed in on Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet, calling it “strikingly erroneous.”

This strikingly erroneous tweet is now approaching 15,000 retweets and over 40,000 likes. https://t.co/pFmhppHyjS

— David Boaz (@David_Boaz) December 3, 2018

Many of the representative-elect’s followers were embarrassed by her complete lack of knowledge:

Try to avoid sticker shock remarks and ask more questions of your mentors and predecessors. I’m rooting for you, but you’ve got to act smarter than this.

— DaCrafty1 (@shecrafty1) December 3, 2018

I like you, but you need to check with a staffer that understands economics before you tweet stuff like this. It undercuts your greater arguments for fairness, equality and progress.

— Dave Spodek (@DaveSpodek) December 3, 2018

*sigh*

I really like AOC, but this is what I mean when I say she needs to brush up on policy before making statements like this. https://t.co/SIsQZtqYju

— Alex "Klobuchar 2020" Kendrick (@AJ_Kendrick) December 2, 2018

[email protected] You need to slow down. I’m rooting for you but you are not getting your facts straight https://t.co/xNYtF0E3sU

— Fluent Sarcasm (@BarbaraDarlin) December 3, 2018