The editorial board of The New York Post tore into Democrat Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York after she complained New York City was too expensive for “working-class people.”
The board agreed the legislator was right but blamed her for pushing the policies that have made the city too expensive.
The Tuesday editorial started, “For once, AOC is right, “They can’t afford to live here anymore,” of working-class New Yorkers. “The thing is, it’s the policies that she and her progressive allies want more of that have made the city so expensive.”
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez made her comments during a town hall meeting this week and argued it wasn’t the rich who felt the heat of the expense but working-class people.
“The people who are moving out of the city are not the wealthiest. They’re the working class. They can’t afford to live here anymore,” said the representative while making a pitch to tax the city’s rich even more.
The editorial ripped AOC’s alleged sympathy for the working class. It blamed her, along with her political allies, for pushing policies that have created the current crisis, like allowing immigrants into the country, which has, in turn, inundated New York.
“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, is, after all, a Democratic Socialist. Look at what occasioned the digital town hall where she spoke: recently announced cuts across city agencies. Why are these needed? To pay for the migrants, AOC and her ilk demand we admit in infinite numbers, and house and feed forever at a cost of more than $12 billion through fiscal year 2025,” stated the editorial.
It then mentioned the housing policies of progressives, “What about housing? A recent survey shows a third of New Yorkers are paying over half their income for rent. Lefties used that fact to call for even more rent control — which is a huge reason city housing is so limited.”
The Post noted legislators have “done so much to reduce the amount of housing, from blocking renewal of the 421a tax break for developers (responsible for the vast majority of new affordable housing in the past two decades) to 2019’s Tenant Protection Act, which has taken 43,000 units off the market because it doesn’t let landlords cover the costs of bringing old apartments up to code.”
“The city is on track to see only 11,000 new units built this year, half the number from 2022,” as a result.
The board tore into Ocasio-Cortez’s climate change agenda
The board ripped into Ocasio-Cortez’s climate change agenda and claimed he is “already sending power prices for New Yorkers skyward.”
It additionally skewered progressives’ “criminal justice ‘reforms’” and noted they have resulted in “billions of dollars stolen by shoplifting thugs from retailers big and small.”
When criticizing her solution to the issues, the outlet continued, saying, “AOC offered her usual prescription on this issue: Tax the rich! But, they’re fleeing the state and city in droves, also thanks to our progressive overloads.”
“AOC and her fellow leftists simply don’t care what their ideas mean for the people whose interests they claim to represent. And if progressive ideology continues to rule New York, it’ll get even more unaffordable — and the exodus will accelerate,” concluded the editorial.
