AOC’s Baseless Accusation That the U.S. Is a 'Brutal, Barbarian Society'

Charlemagne Institute  "According to democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the COVID-19 pandemic is proving that the United States “is a brutal, barbarian society for the vast majority of working-class Americans.” As evidence of this, she claims that “40% of us couldn’t even afford a $400 emergency” before this crisis, and COVID-19 “is more than a $400 emergency.”

"However, her “40%–$400” statistic is false, and the facts that broadly inform this issue reveal that:

• government social programs, which AOC seeks to enlarge, depress workers’ savings, causing the very outcomes that she decries.
• the people of the U.S. lead the world in charity.
• middle- and low-income Americans are more financially capable of handling COVID-19 than the bulk of people in most developed countries, including those who live in more socialistic nations that AOC says the U.S. should emulate.

"AOC’s Allegations  "In a recent video, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–NY) declared: “This is supposed to be the richest society in the world, and I think what this crisis is showing us is that this is only a rich society for a very small amount of people, and it is a brutal, barbarian society for the vast majority of working-class Americans because 40% of us couldn’t even afford a $400 emergency before this thing started. This is more than a $400 emergency, and we’re really going to have to step up and completely change our approach to our public systems.” . . .

"Summary" 

"Contrary to AOC’s portrayal of the USA as “a brutal, barbarian society for the vast majority of working-class Americans,” the key facts that inform this matter show that:

• the lone statistic she used to support this allegation is false.
• personal savings – the subject of her statistic – are depressed by government social programs that she champions and seeks to expand.
• when it comes to charity, the people of the U.S. are the most generous in the world.
• middle- and even low-income Americans have more material resources to weather COVID-19 than the majority of people in most developed nations.