6. We should be more critical about how physicists deal with their ‘measurement problems’ in general.
A constitutional amendment for an Economic Supreme Court
As an economic expert I advise to a parliamentary enquiry and a public debate on this issue. It are the present powers in government that must grow convinced of the need for a better balance of powers. The evidence will likely convince them, if only they study it.
The following is a text that may serve as a concept for a constitutional amendment. The text assumes the common Trias Politica. It uses the term “Parliament” for the legislative branch (e.g. US Congress), and “President” for the executive branch (e.g. the UK Cabinet). It then adds the Economic Supreme Court. The given size, terms and other properties of the Economic Supreme Court seem best to create a balance for group decision making, openness, stability and change.
This text has essentially been posted on the internet in 1996. The major current change with respect to that text is a result of Frank Sulloway’s “Born to rebel” (1996) and the subsequent reports - Van den Berg (2004) refers to Nature - that these findings are not accurate. Sulloway argues that first-borns tend to be less open to new ideas but more likely to have responsible positions. This causes the idea that, since the court should be sensitive to new discoveries and be critical to abuse of authority, it would seem wise to have some test on open-mindedness. This needs to be investigated upon. Since this is a constitution, we should formulate a general rule, and we should leave it to the practical times and state of scientific inquiry how this is implemented, by first-bornnesss or by some other verifiable criterion.
The nation has an independent and scientific Economic Supreme Court of equal status next to Parliament, the President and the Supreme Court.
1. The task of the Court is to scientifically check the economic data, assumptions, analyses and projections underlying the government’s budget and its draft statement, and then possibly veto the official adoption and publication of the budget, if the Court finds that the information used and presented, and in particular the estimates for the deficit and national debt, are not scientifically correct. The Court will publish its findings both for Parliament and for the scientific community.
2. Members of the Court are appointed by the Court itself, subject to a veto by a normal majority in Parliament.
The Court will inform Parliament about the name and credentials of the candidate for appointment. Parliament will have 50 days to discuss and possibly veto an appointment. The appointment of the candidate becomes effective when Parliament does not veto the appointment.