As members of Congress congratulate themselves over a compromise “stalemate” agreement to end a protracted budget crisis—an agreement that raises the federal debt ceiling and ends the so-called “shutdown” of the United States government—many citizens and pundits are wondering: What was really achieved?

Archaeologists and anthropologists have labeled the many different ages in their models of the history of man, such as the “Stone Age” or the “Bronze Age.” Given its prominence in our current society, it would not be a wonder if future anthropologists were to label our culture the “Sex Age.”