Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went on an extended discussion about economics and John Maynard Keynes where she referred to him as “Milton Keynes.”
The New York Democrat said that the “famed economist Milton Keynes predicted that by 2030, GDP and technology would have advanced so much that it would allow everyday people to work as little as 15 hours a week and provide for their families.”
Ocasio-Cortez, 30, said that Keynes was not entirely wrong because technology and GDP “have advanced wildly since the 1960s” but that wealth inequality has kept people from experiencing a shorter workweek.
The freshman congresswoman later clarified that she had mistaken Milton Friedman with Keynes. “UGGGH TYPO. It’s John Maynard Keynes. Mixed his name with Milton Friedman — a (very) different economist,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez, a socialist, has a degree in economics from Boston University, which she regularly boasts about online. Friedman was a staunch free market economist, while Keynes laid a significant amount of theory behind the idea that government spending contributed toward economic growth.