So with a fair number of people mentioning "MMT", could someone actually explain it in laymans terms and why it works/doesn't work?

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MMT's unique contribution is the idea that the government doesn't need to be funded by taxes or debt. Rather the government is funded by printing its own money. Taxes and debt are just tools that can be used to regulate the economy by adding or removing money.

Its popular among armchair economists right now because its the only theory that really allows ridiculously high stimulus packages, unlimited QE, UBI and so forth without posing the problem of "so how is the government going to pay for this?".

Most established economists don't buy the theory. They point out that the government printing money indiscriminately has historically been one of the leading causes of inflation and hyper inflation. They note that reserve banks and democratic governments have different goals and seldom cooperate. And they point out that before the establishment of reserve banks, elected officials had a history of printing money to match election cycles and ideology, often with disastrous results.

Someone linked this before. MMT Steven Hail

Alternatively, someone else also commented that he is highly criticized.

So, good luck navigating it.

Bill Mitchell Modern Monetary Theory http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/

Hundreds of posts. Lots of formulas and deep discussion. Lots of citations.