Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) argued that billionaires cannot legitimately earn their wealth during an appearance on comedian Ilana Glazer’s podcast, 'It’s Open.' She suggested that extreme wealth is tied to corporate power, labor exploitation, and low wages rather than merit alone. 'You can’t earn a billion dollars,' she said. 'You can get market power. You can break rules. You can do all sorts of things. You can abuse labor laws. You can pay people less than what they’re worth. But you can’t earn that.'
Critics, including Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro, called her claims a lie. 'Lies. Billionaires get rich by innovating and risk-taking, offering new and better goods and services at prices people are willing to pay,' he wrote on social media. Paul Graham, an author and entrepreneur, countered that earning a billion dollars is possible through starting and growing a successful company. Mark Hemingway, a senior writer at Real Clear Politics, criticized the full conversation, calling it worse than the viral clip.
Ocasio-Cortez framed economic insecurity as a broader issue, though the full context of her remarks was not detailed in the sources.