It has been over four years since Stephanie Kelton, the vocal professor and champion of Modern Monetary Theory, publicly challenged me to “find the hole” in L. Randall Wray’s argument for “chartalism” (the claim that money is largely a state invention).

In a year as chaotic, violent, and economically destructive as this one has been, it is interesting that, to many Americans, the great villain of 2026 is turning out to be a traffic camera.