Formal impossibility results don’t get solved — they migrate. Fix the gap here, and it reappears there. Close this loophole, and you open that one. The impossibility is conserved; it just changes address. This tag collects cases where the structural problem turns out to be the same problem, wearing different clothes.
In a little noticed procedural move on October 1st, the House of Representatives “entered in to the stage of disagreement” with the Senate with respect to H.J.Res. 59, the “clean” continuing resolution (CR) that, as currently amended by the Senate, would reopen the government at the sequestered levels.[1] Specifically, H.Res. 368 does two things. The … Read more
The US federal government is currently “closed” because the Democratic and Republican parties cannot agree to what seems to be a Pareto optimal (i.e., unanimously preferred) policy (namely, the government being “open”). I will dispense with current events and turn immediately to the question of “why?” This shutdown is arguably different than the most recent (1995-96) … Read more
Forceful confrontation to a threat to filibuster is undoubtedly the antidote to the malady. –Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV) Filibuster reform in the US Senate has once again begun to attract attention. In a nutshell, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, NV) is—ahem—upset that—in his opinion, at least—Republican Senators are unreasonably holding up executive branch nominations out of either animus … Read more
Bad money drives out good. – Gresham’s Law Gresham’s law was coined (hahaha!) back when it was apparently okay to call things laws based on a hunch. Nonetheless, it has a solid theoretical foundation. To understand it, just consider how you would pay for things if gold and lead were both made legal tender at … Read more