Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11)23 Apr

The honey badger of payments

Patrick McKenzie (patio11) reads his classic Bits about Money essay on how checks shaped the entire American payments infrastructure, from the origins of ACH to why a standard US bank account is, technically, a credit product. He then examines what happened when DOGE tried, via Executive Order 14247, to eliminate federal paper check disbursements by September 2025. The carve-outs Treasury eventually had to make map almost exactly onto the essay's original argument. Checks are the honey badger of payments: the numbers keep dwindling, but the edge cases are irreducible, and the second-best pathway for reaching them doesn't really exist yet.

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Full transcript available here: www.complexsystemspodcast.com/checks/
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Presenting Sponsors: Mercury & Granola

Complex Systems is presented by Mercury—radically better banking for founders. Mercury offers the best wire experience anywhere: fast, reliable, and free for domestic U.S. wires, so you can stay focused on growing your business. Apply online in minutes at mercury.com.

If meetings consistently leave you with hazy action items and lost context, Granola handles the transcription so you can actually participate and gives you searchable notes afterward. Try it free at granola.ai/complexsystems with code COMPLEXSYSTEMS

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Links:

The Long Shadow of Checks: https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/the-long-shadow-of-checks/

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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro

(01:12) A brief digression for people who use functioning payment forms

(02:45) Check settlement in the pre-computer era

(07:28) Some funny consequences of checks underpinning everything

(13:20) Money in transit

(14:42) Sponsors: Mercury | Granola

(17:56) Money in transit (part 2)

(21:12) Deposit accounts and their discontents

(23:25) The DOGE postscript

(29:03) Honey Badger Jingle

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