Thanks for asking the question. Such an interesting answer.

What I found most interesting was this idea that somehow our society couldn't be "sustained" or even grow without the capacity for the government to monitor financial transactions. Like, what, somehow our world falls apart without the Bank Secrecy Act?

This reminds me of the early days of the internet, when academics like this would write op-eds or papers seriously making the argument "OK guys, Wild West is over, we're going to have to put borders on the Internet." As if (a) that's somehow essential for the system to operate and (b) you have ANY say in the matter.

While that might sound ridiculous, now that I think of it, "borders" have indeed been introduced to the internet via centralized social media platforms, and the fact that most people interact with "the internet" through one or another company with a California HQ.

But yeah, tl;dr -- strong disagree with that guy.