In modern political debate, rising costs of living are usually blamed on markets. Housing is “unaffordable.” Healthcare is “broken.” Education is “too expensive.” The proposed remedy is almost always the same: more public spending, more intervention, more emergency programs funded by government credit.

But what if the affordability crisis is not a failure of markets at all? What if it is the predictable outcome of how modern governments finance themselves?

Money is often described as neutral, technical, or merely instrumental—a passive medium facilitating exchange within an otherwise political society. This view is not only mistaken; it is profoundly misleading. Money is the hidden constitution of every political order. It determines which actions are possible, which institutions survive, which risks are rewarded, and which failures are forgiven. While constitutions proclaim rights and legislatures debate policy, money silently governs outcomes. For this reason, the structure of a monetary system is never merely economic.

It is taken, in many cases, to be fact that the reason the Constitutional Convention was called and that the Constitution was ratified was because of the failure of the Articles of Confederation system. The folks at Heritage have made their position clear:

India recently witnessed one of the worst aviation disruptions in years. Thousands of passengers were stranded across airports, entire flight schedules collapsed, and social media was filled with videos of frustrated travelers sleeping on floors. The chaos was not just an operational failure, it was the outcome of a deeper conflict between the regulator and the airlines, triggered by the new DGCA guidelines, especially the rollout of FDTL Phase 2 for cabin crew scheduling.

2025 was another great year for scoffing at politicians and Washington. Here are some of the zestiest lines from articles I wrote last year.

Trump Returns

“Trump’s economic victory proclamations are akin to a bad magician whose tricks are so lame that his audience starts to heckle him.”

“Trump’s biggest handicap now is that he’s no longer running against ‘Sleepy Joe Biden.’ Instead, Trump is going up against reality.”