NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Says 'Capitalism is Irredeemable'

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over the weekend denounced "capitalism" as "irredeemable" and warned people that "corporations have taken over our government."

During an interview at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, the congresswoman from New York criticized the economic system governing America.

"Capitalism is an ideology of capital — the most important thing is the concentration of capital and to seek and maximize profit," she said to an enthusiastic crowd. "To me, capitalism is irredeemable."

The 29-year-old freshman representative, who has described herself as a democratic socialist, went on to say that "we should be scared."

"Just as there's all this fear-mongering that government is going to take over every corporation and government is going to take over every business or every form of production, we should be scared right now because corporations have taken over our government," Ocasio-Cortez said. "In my opinion, we should be wary of any entity in which both of those things are combined."

That said, the legislator explained that she doesn't believe capitalism should be completely abolished.

"We're reckoning with the consequences of putting profit above everything else in society," she said. "And what that means is people can't afford to live. For me, it's a question of priorities and right now I don't think our model is sustainable."

Ocasio-Cortez then noted that the "emphasis on democratic socialism is on democracy" and creating more rights for workers.

"It's just as much a transformation about bringing democracy to the workplace so that we have a say and that we don't check all of our rights at the door every time we cross the threshold into our workplace," Ocasio-Cortez said. "Because at the end of the day, as workers and as people in society, we're the ones creating wealth."

Ocasio-Cortez has repeatedly urged the Democratic party to contemplate progressive policies in order to combat disparity and climate change. She recently proposed the Green New Deal resolution which seeks to address global warming and economic inequality by investing in eco-friendly jobs.

American television personality and climate activist Bill Nye voiced his support for Ocasio-Cortez after crashing one of her SXSW sessions on Saturday.

"AOC gets it. She sees that fear is dividing us. We can address income inequality. We can address climate change, if we get together and get to work. #SXSW @AOC," he tweeted, alongside a selfie of himself with Ocasio-Cortez.