1. Public Policy as Hidden Redistribution: 2025’s Case Studies
In the early chapters of Theft at the Public Till , I introduced the concept of “unintended redistribution”—the quiet, often unnoticed shifting of re- sources, risks, and responsibilities from the many to the few. Today, that redistribution is no longer unintended, nor is it particularly quiet. Take the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. While lauded as a breakthrough in climate and industrial policy, its green energy incentives were designed in ways that disproportionately benefited large-scale industrial operators, venture-backed cleantech startups, and rural states with cheap land and abundant sunlight or wind. Meanwhile, urban renters—the backbone of the Democratic coalition that passed the law—saw little benefit in their utility bills or housing costs. The problem was not corruption per se, but design: the tools of implementation (tax credits, subsidies, market-based incentives) were structurally aligned with those who already had access to capital. Another current example is the CHIPS and Science Act, which pledged over $50 billion in federal subsidies to revitalize domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Its goal—reducing America’s dependence on foreign supply chains—was both laudable and urgent. But execution matters. Most of the subsidies have gone to already-profitable companies like Intel, Micron, and TSMC. Local communities, meanwhile, are left dealing with the infrastruc- tural and housing burdens that come with sudden booms in high-tech indus- trial development—while waiting for jobs that may or may not materialize. Arizona’s water-starved desert now plays host to massive fabs with high water footprints, even as Phoenix suburbs face restrictions and rate hikes. In short, public resources were mobilized in a way that socialized the costs and privatized the benefits—a story as old as the transcontinental railroad, but no less damning for its familiarity. These policies echo the concerns voiced in this book decades ago: decision-making processes that reward scale, incumbency, and visibility rather than equity, resilience, and long-term value. The theft is not just of funds; it is of civic trust, the belief that government can act on behalf of the many, not merely the well-positioned few.
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