Posted on 01/26/2026 11:46:57 AM PST by MtnClimber
Some of us are old enough to remember Matthew Lesko, the lanky, fast-talking late-night TV pitchman who promised people free government money to those who bought his books.
There are, Lesko said in one of his countless ads decades ago, “15,000 programs you can use to get a better job, get an education, or start your own business. Those who know about the programs are the ones who get the money!”
Lesko was right about how easy it is to get taxpayer money.
What Lesko didn’t say is that it’s easy to do even when it violates the law — especially if you live in a state run by Democrats.
Minnesota, of course, has been the epicenter of fraud stories these days, after the scale of the swindle became apparent. Not only did those committing fraud make off with billions, but fraudsters funneled at least some of that money into political campaigns to effectively buy lawmakers’ silence.
But Minnesota is hardly the only place where scammers have gone way beyond what Matthew Lesko promised in his books.
As Charles Silver and David Hyman note in the City Journal,
Frauds against government health-care programs are both common and costly. Fraudsters routinely scam (Medicare and Medicaid) for billions of dollars. States themselves run schemes of their own. COVID-related frauds, for example, exceeded $280 billion, with another $123 billion wasted or misspent. Obamacare enrollment fraud is pervasive, likely costing taxpayers $27 billion in 2025 and $21 billion in 2024.
California is under federal criminal investigation for wasting $37 billion to fight homelessness. It lost $20 billion in COVID-19-related federal unemployment money — the most of any state. Nearly half of the state’s increase in Medicaid spending went to pay for health care for illegal aliens. And it’s under investigation to see where the $4 billion in federal money for California’s never-ending bullet train project ended up.
Fox News reports that the Education Department found that “during a 12-month period between 2024 and 2025, scammers stole at least $10 million in federal financial aid from community colleges in California.”
Recently, three people in Brooklyn were found guilty of stealing $68 million from New York’s Medicaid program in a con that lasted seven years before they were caught.
The government routinely reports that Medicaid annually wastes 6% of benefits to errors and fraud, which works out to more than $37 billion. But that’s likely a vast understatement.
It’s worth noting that Medicaid fraud isn’t a universal problem – but one that tends to flourish in blue states. The Cato Institute’s Chris Edwards notes that “New York State spends two and a half times more on Medicaid than Florida, even though the latter has a larger population.”
Why is it so easy to steal from the federal government? Because, unlike a private business, nobody in government really cares if money is wasted. Who has lost their job after some major scam was uncovered?
Plus, as we pointed out in this space, fraud is good for big-government types because it creates new constituents and new sources of campaign cash.
The answer to this problem isn’t just to unleash armies of auditors and federal police. It’s to close the spigot entirely.
The federal government spends more than $3.6 trillion on what it calls “direct payments for individuals” and another $833 billion in grants to states that are supposed to end up in individual pockets.
That’s about two-thirds of the entire federal budget!
As long as there’s that much money flying around, fraudsters will flourish. And taxpayers will be bilked.
The Somali immigrants are doing the same thing in Maine, VT and Ohio. There are just not nearly as many and their state governments are not nearly as incompetent as MN.
Although, Janet Mills in Maine is trying to give Tim a run for his money.
In VT, I don’t hear so much about the blatant abuse/stealing of government money. They are all just on welfare. THey have a very successful SIDE HUSSEL. They have taken a different business route there. They have cornered the drug distribution business in Burlington, VT. Heroine/fentanyl/pills and other illegal drugs. Then they frequently kill each other to control that drug distribution. So much so that the murder rate in VT per capita is now very high. Keep in mind Vermont is the WHITEST state(95%) in the country. There are only 800K people. There are more cows than people.
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Ripping off the Federal government it tight!
Ask SIRI the average IQ of a somalian. Then ask SIRI the average IQ of a retard. 68 and 70.
Depends on your skin color. Your ability to successfully rip off Uncle Sam is directly proportional to the darkness of your skin. The more melanin means more money.
It’s so easy a cave man (Somalian) can do it.
Juan Brown just put up a video at 5:00.
Democratic Party constituents know how to game the systems. But when Veterans file for legitimate compensation we have to jump through hoops and “prove” what even the National Institute of Health, a governmental entity, acknowledges that the medical community at large already knows. PFAS exposure to veterans is the dirty little secret that makes Agent Orange look like a outbreak of common flu in it’s scope and magnitude. And because of it’s breadth the DOD and Congress want to keep a lid on it until most of us who were exposed have passed on thereby limiting their liability.
I remember his books but I never bought one because I figured that was his shtick. Selling books. But I do remember TV ads from the federal government for contractors to sign up for government programs.
I actually thought about it..... How stupid I was.
I have read that the average Somalian IQ is 68. If true, they are not nearly smart enough to be doing this on their own. They are pawns in a much bigger game. Criminal, unethical, illegal pawns, but still pawns.
My bet is that if you or I tried to rip off the goobermint, we’d be in jail in a flash.
I believe that the way this works is that you have to be part of the Deep State operation in order to get away with it.
How smart do you have to be when money is put in front of them and no accountability for the money.
I wouldn’t make too much of low average IQs in non-western cultures, have you taken an IQ test? You know, what’s the missing number 2, 4 __ 16 32 64. You probably immediatelly said 8 and good for you. But if you couldn’t figure that out quickly, what real world implications would there be? Maybe not too many.
If I said Biden, votes ___ U.S. government, the average Somali would instantly figure out ___ ka-ching ___ and you would probably say ___ end of ____ or ___ corruption ___.
So your street smarts are not up to the third world level, see? And don’t get me started on clocks that are seen upside down in mirrors.
You might puzzle through that and come up with an answer. The average third world person would say “why don’t they have a digital watch?” and move on.
Depends entirely on skin color.
Thanks for the ping.
Democrats in general know how to shake the corrupt money tree....
‘Medicaid wastes 6% of benefits to error and fraud’ - how much is lost to error and how much to fraud? I’m betting much more than 6% is lost to fraud. Can’t we get DOGE to examine it to see how much of Medicaid is stolen through fraud?
Check out this about Somali health care ripoffs in Portland Maine>>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv1-xFD96mE&t=169s
Worst refugees/migrants ever. Someone here explained why so many were brought in. He said the more dysfunctional their homeland, the more the insane libs want these dysfunctional “migrants” here.
In the late 1980s I was in Savanna GA a few times. My friends dragged me to a public housing project. It was Vietnamese refugees with beautiful vegetable gardens planted everywhere.
Your reasoning is sound, IMO.
First class immigrants... my church (way back then) sponsored some Vietnamese refugees. It was a happy experience.
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