To ask that question after the passage of two centuries, says Pietro Nivola of the Brookings Institution, is to pose an impossible thought experiment.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

On your first question on the CR, I mean, we obviously support the passage of the three-week CR, precisely because we need the time to negotiate a final CR for fiscal year 2011.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

The question now is whether it's spiraled too much, and whether the passage of time will bring a different perspective, placing the value of Bonds and McGwire's accomplishments somewhere in between the levels of nine years ago and today.

FORBES: Why 756 Will Not Equal Millions

The parties to the negotiation decided to put aside the question of whether, and how, to make the deal legally binding pending the passage of America's emissions-reducing legislation.

ECONOMIST: The Copenhagen Summit: Stopping climate change | The