Three Examples of the “Theft Industrial Complex” in 2025

By Larry Behrens

Many Americans are watching in amazement and horror at the serious allegations of government fraud and waste. These are not small clerical errors or isolated mistakes. It’s about taxpayer dollars — on an enormous scale — siphoned away from the people and programs they were supposed to help. And being stolen from those who are footing the bill.

The most recent example is in Minnesota, where an independent journalist uncovered seeming widespread abuse in childcare and health programs, including Somali-run daycare operations accused of billing the state for services never provided. Reports suggest the potential total loss may reach into the hundreds of millions — if not more.

As Americans prepare to file their taxes in April, it is infuriating to watch billions of dollars treated so casually by the same politicians who constantly tell us they care about “affordability.” At some point, the culprits must be identified and held to account because the modern left has created a Theft Industrial Complex. That’s where taxpayer money is funneled to political allies, activist organizations, nonprofit networks, and consultants who laugh all the way to the bank while escaping accountability

Here are just three glaring examples:

Minnesota’s Childcare Fraud

The Minnesota daycare scandal is a heartbreaking example. Allegations describe fraudulent billing schemes, fake attendance records, and nonexistent children bused as financial vehicles to extract money from taxpayers. The money was supposed to support real families and real children. Instead, much of it may have gone to fraud, abuse, and personal enrichment.

Gavin Newsom’s Rail to Nowhere

California offers another example. Governor Gavin Newsom wants to continue to pour staggering amounts of taxpayer funding into a high-speed rail project that remains years behind schedule, way over budget, and nowhere near completion. After 16 years and $15 billion spent, the proposed 800-mile rail has only completed 119 miles. The Trump Administration correctly cut the remaining $4 billion. Families don’t see improvement, affordability, or accountability. What they see is a political class insisting taxpayers keep writing checks while producing very little in return.

Climate Cash and Political Allies

Then there is the Biden administration’s climate agenda. Internal records and congressional findings reveal that political activists — including figures such as John Podesta — played influential roles in steering major policy decisions like the pause on natural gas export approvals. Potentially to boost financial gain for family members. At the same time, billions in federal climate grants have been awarded to organizations tightly connected to Democratic operatives. One group linked to Stacey Abrams even dissolved after congressional scrutiny intensified. Once again, the people benefiting were not working-class families — they were political insiders and aligned institutions.

The total sum of these three examples is north $18 billion dollars in questionable or wasted spending. And that’s only a snapshot of what has become routine.

It Was Never Really About Affordability

The next time you hear a leftist politician claim they are fighting for affordability, fairness, or working families, it is worth asking a simple question: why does the money so often seem to end up with political allies, activist networks, and government insiders instead of the people they claim to champion? That’s the Theft Industrial Complex at work. Taxpayers provide the funding. Political machines reap the rewards. Ordinary Americans are expected to quietly pick up the tab year after year.

As another tax season approaches, maybe it’s time to demand leaders who treat taxpayer dollars like a trust — not a slush fund. Because whenever the left starts talking about climate spending, childcare expansion, or new “equity” initiatives, the pattern is becoming impossible to ignore. They’re not fighting for our families. They’re fighting for our money.

Larry Behrens is an energy expert and the Communications Director for Power The Future. He has appeared on Fox News, ZeroHedge, and NewsMax speaking in defense of American energy workers. You can follow him on X/Twitter @larrybehrens.

This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.