ONE Swing and Miss for Four-Pinnochio Ocasio

Ocasio-Cortez Gets Slammed for Misleading Public by Liberal Media


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest new member of Congress after the recent elections, hasn't even been sworn in yet and she's already being caught - by her own loyal Democrat media, no less - for misleading statements.

Ah Ha! Moment

Ocasio-Cortez thought she had and ah ha moment when she noticed there were reports of $21 Trillion dollars in accounting errors in the Department of Defense over a 17 year period.  Ocasio-Cortez famously favors a Medicare-for-all plan that is expected to cost about $32 Trillion dollars, and she immediately did the math and noticed the errors equaled about 66% of what the MFA plan would cost.  She thought it was proof the government can find the money to pay for it. So she boldly told everyone so.

Fine Print and Cost Projections

Well, of course, she should have read the fine print.  The budget errors - big as they are and embarrassing as they should be - don't actually reflect how much money there is sitting in a pot. They were accounting errors of various types both + and -, with some perhaps reflecting real savings possible, but others reflecting underestimates of real spending.  And some may not reflect anything but real typos.

Of course, even if there really were $21T waiting to be spent, does anyone really think a government that can make $21 Trillion dollars worth of accounting errors would ever make Medicare for All cost $32T?

For her troubles she got more troubles.  One liberal watchdog cited her for "a swing and a miss."  Another liberal media outlet assigned her 4 Pinnochios for this shot from the hip. At this rate, Ocasio-Cortez might ought to cool it for a while.  There's still a whole month before she's sworn in and she can start doing some real damage.