Freshman New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cheered the destruction of jobs in the energy industry in a since-deleted tweet on Monday.
“You absolutely love to see it,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in response to a tweet reporting on oil prices dropping below zero. “This along with record low interest rates means it’s the right time for a worker-led, mass investment in green infrastructure to save our planet. *cough*”
The New York socialist deleted her comment just moments after publishing, following backlash.
Prices on contracts for May delivery of crude oil plummeted below zero Monday as the economic crisis over the Wuhan coronavirus continues to worsen and a majority of Americans remain on lockdown. Prices reached -$37.63 a barrel marking it the first time in history that the price of oil has gone negative. As U.S. storage fills up with lack of energy demand, the price decline suggests that sellers are in possession of a worthless product and are more inclined to pay others to dispose of it.
The collapse in oil deals a major blow to the Trump administration which had gone out of its way to protect the industry in the face of declining demand, including unprecedented coordination with OPEC to cut production.
The steep decline in energy demand will inevitably land thousands more out of work to pile on to the more than 22 million Americans who have already lost their jobs in just four weeks throughout the crisis.
