Most people use banks constantly without ever asking the most basic question: where does the money in a bank loan actually come from?

That question provides the strongest part of this sprawling Tucker Carlson interview with economist Richard Werner. Werner argues that commercial banks do not simply collect existing savings and lend them to somebody else; lending itself creates new bank deposits. That may initially sound radical, but the underlying mechanism is not fringe economics: the Bank of England explicitly explains that commercial banks create most money by making loans. Werner has also published empirical research on individual bank credit creation.

From there, the conversation becomes considerably more contentious. Werner connects credit creation and central banking to Japan’s boom and bust, asset inflation, the Federal Reserve, the financing of wars, international development lending, the CIA and the potential dangers of central bank digital currencies. Carlson largely gives him room to build that argument rather than conducting an adversarial interview.

That distinction matters. Some of Werner’s explanations concern documented monetary mechanics; other geopolitical and historical allegations are his interpretations and should be treated as such.

At nearly three hours, this isn’t a quick primer. Its value lies in making an invisible piece of everyday economic infrastructure visible—and then asking how much political power follows from controlling credit.