I'm trying to understand the liberal perspective on this without any gotchas...

The Minnesota fraud scandals have been huge news lately: federal prosecutors estimate potentially $9B+ stolen from 14 state-run programs since 2018 (half or more of the $18B disbursed), including child nutrition (Feeding Our Future), child care assistance (CCAP with "ghost" centers), autism services, and housing programs. Dozens of centers billed for non-existent services, with funds allegedly going to luxury cars, homes, overseas properties, etc.Examples that stand out: "Quality Learing Center" (sign misspells "learning", are you kidding) in Minneapolis: millions in subsidies despite 95+ violations, empty during visits, blacked-out. Fruad. actual, measureable, fruad.

Nationally, improper payments/fraud in federal programs hit $162B in FY2024, with child care and welfare vulnerabilities in states like Illinois, California, etc.—not just Minnesota.

Critics (across parties) blame weak oversight, self-reporting loopholes, and pandemic waivers. Gov. Walz has implemented fixes (e.g., fraud unit, payment stops), and there's bipartisan pushback now.

But why doesn't this level of direct taxpayer theft (billions vanishing while programs meant for vulnerable kids/families get exploited) spark the same intense outrage/protests on the left as, say, corporate subsidies, billionaire loopholes, or environmental issues?

Is it seen as isolated/systemic but fixable without slashing programs?

Or more a failure of administration than the programs themselves?

Do liberals view this as worth aggressive reforms (tighter verification, cuts to risky providers) to protect social safety nets? Or is the bigger priority preserving access for those who need it, even with some waste?Thanks for thoughtful responses!

Update: I also just read that after this dude was found guilty, the judge overturned the results. Come on?!?

What tf is going on in Minnesota? Industrial-scale fraud is occurring in this state, and no one on Reddit seems to be paying attention. Every aspect of Minnesota's social services is being shamelessly pillaged. Feeding our Futures scandal, at least 250 million, probably 10x that number when all stones are unturned, 878 arrested so far. Housing Stabilization Services Fraud, at least 300 million pilfered, 5 arrested so far. Autism Services (EIDBI Program) Fraud, Broader Medicaid and Social Services Fraud, and now the latest child care services fraud, where millions of dollars were sent to empty storefronts posing as child care facilities. This is gross criminal negligence on the part of Minnesota's leadership. People seriously need to be imprisoned.

And by the way, the same level of corruption and scandal is being uncovered in California now. Seems to be a certain pattern forming.

I’ve been seeing this in the news lately, but I remain unsure if these are isolated incidents or something more systemic. This Feeding Our Future case seems to be pretty big, with what appears to be at least $250 million in fraud. Reporting describes it as one of the largest pandemic related fraud cases in the country. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-to-know-about-minnesota-fraud-allegations-as-trump-levels-attacks-on-walz/

Federal prosecutors are also pursuing multiple additional fraud investigations in Minnesota involving Medicaid and other social services programs, including autism services and housing stabilization services and daycare. Federal officials have described the scope of the problem as unusually large. https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/12/18/u-s-attorney-fraud-likely-exceeds-9-billion-in-minnesota-run-medicaid-services/ MPR News reporting on new charges: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/12/18/minnesota-fraud-new-charges-medicaid-scam https://kstp.com/tracking-your-tax-dollars/whistleblower-minnesotas-child-care-assistance-program-has-fraud-cases-dating-back-12-years/ https://m.economictimes.com/us/news/empty-daycare-centers-millions-in-public-funds-viral-video-sparks-minnesota-fraud-scrutiny/articleshow/126213876.cms

For people who follow Minnesota politics or public administration more closely: how should all of this be understood? Are these just unusually large fraud cases that happen to be concentrated in one state, or do they point to broader systemic issues? How does this compare to fraud in other states? And what should change to prevent similar problems going forward?

Relevance: Walz was the 2024 Democratic VP nominee, a guest on EKS whom Ezra was pretty high on, and seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party.

Donald Trump and MAGA’s use of these scandals as a post-hoc justification of their aggressive immigration enforcement and xenophobia is not okay. However, whaddaboutism, deflections, and partisan reactionism does not excuse Walz (and the Minnesota DFL) for having created the conditions for, enabling, and then failing to meaningfully respond to defrauding social programs. At a minimum it’s naive executive malpractice, but until investigations are conducted which exonerate people it is not unreasonable to infer corruption played a role.

I strongly encourage people to read the article before posting. For those unaware, the Minnesota Reformer is a progressive/center-left publication that does good reporting within the state. They’ve been reporting on this issue for years and Walz (and the DFL) have acted like nothing’s wrong. Much of this reporting is linked within the piece.

Politically, this is a disaster, not just for Minnesota because this story has gained traction nationally. It undermines Ezra’s idea that democrats can run government well and successfully execute progressive programs. Additionally it gives Republicans an opportunity to trash Medicaid and drive headlines. Unfortunately Walz has been reactionary and chosen to nationalize the issue and his campaign rather than tackle this debacle responsibly.

How much waste and fraud do you think is going on at the State level and the City of Seattle?

I’ve seen a bit about this mostly from right leaning news sites about a YouTuber who allegedly went to these Somali owned daycares receiving millions of dollars from the state of MN. It doesn’t seem to be covered in more mainstream outlets, though. Is this actually a scandal with legs or is this just another one of those outrage stories? Hard to tell with all the bias on the sites covering this story.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/feds-launch-massive-investigation-after-viral-video-alleges-minnesota-daycare-fraud

Is this actual fraud or another republican propaganda piece? I keep seeing memes about it.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/video/minnesotas-alleged-daycare-fraud-crisis-explained-128783188

Genuinely asking as I have been waiting since the day that video dropped for any evidence whatsoever of these heinous accusations. I have yet to receive any proving or even suggesting “fraud” at these 5 daycares.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/30/hhs-freezes-childcare-payments-minnesota/87965467007/#

Basically a total reddit blackout on this topic, there’s gotta be some middle ground discussion here. Is it Russian disinformation or is that just reddit cope?

If you're not familiar with Leeja's channel, I highly recommend it. I've been watching her for years and really appreciate her (well-researched) deep dives into topics related to politics, government, and law.

Possibly one of the largest fraud cases in American history totaling BILLIONS of dollars and all appearing to be almost enabled by their own state officials.

The Nick Shirley video showed in a few hours some guy could expose what appears to be upwards of $100M in alleged fraudulent healthcare operations yet MN officials couldn’t (despite those same officials giving them billions in tax dollars)?

Where are the people who claim there shouldn’t be two tiers of justice and that nobody is above the law?

Why aren’t the locals outraged that their tax dollars are going who-knows-where while money is being allocated away from actual organizations designed to help autism support and childcare organizations?

I never was under the impression that fraud using government programs wasn’t rampant… I just never knew how easy is to get millions per year and not even try to hide it.

Nick Shirley is a dishonest right-wing hack so he's not a credible source, but here's a news story from KSTP on the exact same thing with much more credible backing.

(There's a video too but the sub doesn't allow just YouTube videos as links, but here is the full article which includes it if interested.)

I absolutely loathe the idea of fraud in the sense of taking money meant for hungry kids or programs that were taking advantage of by people who were using it to just try and get rich.

I see all this stuff about how it was Walz fault and they are blaming him.

I truly think Walz is the best modern politician, probably the best in the country, and I find it hard to believe he knowingly allow fraud to happen or got any kickbacks from it or anything like people say.

Can someone give me a rundown of the fraud and if Walz was involved at all other than signing the bill that authorized funds? Thanks.

These journalists uncovered rampant fraud, not any state government agencies.

I’ve always been very proud of this state and truly believed that our leaders were trying to do the right things, no matter which party was in charge. I was always fine to pay my taxes. But all of this fraud is making me feel extremely disillusioned and frankly betrayed. Knowing that the money we all work so hard for is being siphoned away, even to other countries. I will always believe that those who need services should be able to get them. But knowing that us Minnesotans are continuing to get squeezed for every penny, all for potentially billions to be wasted to fraud…it’s the ultimate betrayal.