"An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America," says Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., whose visibility as a spokesperson for this generation has been boosted by political friend and foe, "Came of age and never saw American prosperity."
It's ridiculous to say that someone who grew up in and worked in metropolitan New York City "Never saw American prosperity." Those high-rise buildings didn't rise by spontaneous generation.
What AOC surely meant to do was make the often advanced argument that Americans born around 1989 who came of age around 2007, the year AOC graduated from Yorktown High School in suburban Westchester County, haven't seen much economic growth.
Perhaps AOC is taking a longer perspective, based on research like a recent Federal Reserve report that, using standard inflation indexes, says her fellow millennials are doing worse than Generation Xers or baby boomers.
The problem is that any inflation index, based on the cost of a market basket of goods, tends to overestimate inflation over time.
The history they've been taught - a narrative of American misdeeds and injustices - overlooks the fact that until around 1800, as Jonah Goldberg shows in his recent book, "Suicide of the West," sustained economic growth basically never happened.
Michael Barone is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and longtime co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.
https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbarone/2019/06/21/yes-aoc-your-generation-has-seen-american-prosperity-n2548715
It's ridiculous to say that someone who grew up in and worked in metropolitan New York City "Never saw American prosperity." Those high-rise buildings didn't rise by spontaneous generation.
What AOC surely meant to do was make the often advanced argument that Americans born around 1989 who came of age around 2007, the year AOC graduated from Yorktown High School in suburban Westchester County, haven't seen much economic growth.
Perhaps AOC is taking a longer perspective, based on research like a recent Federal Reserve report that, using standard inflation indexes, says her fellow millennials are doing worse than Generation Xers or baby boomers.
The problem is that any inflation index, based on the cost of a market basket of goods, tends to overestimate inflation over time.
The history they've been taught - a narrative of American misdeeds and injustices - overlooks the fact that until around 1800, as Jonah Goldberg shows in his recent book, "Suicide of the West," sustained economic growth basically never happened.
Michael Barone is a senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and longtime co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.
https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbarone/2019/06/21/yes-aoc-your-generation-has-seen-american-prosperity-n2548715
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