Gresham's law is a work that examines this problem in more detail. Some also use an explanation of Gresham's Law as "The more efficient you become, the less effective you get"; i.e. "when you try to go on the cheap, you will stop selling" or "the less you invest in your non-tangible services, the fewer sales you will get." Vice President Spiro Agnew used Gresham's law in describing American news media, stating that "Bad news drives out good news," although his argument was closer to that of a race to the bottom for higher ratings rather than over and undervaluing certain kinds
Hard cases make bad law Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Its validity has since been questioned and dissenting variations include the phrase "Bad law makes hard cases", and even its opposite, "Hard cases make good law". The maxim dates at least to 1837, when a judge, ruling in favor of a parent against the maintenance of her children, said, "We have heard that hard cases make bad law." The judge's wording suggests that the phrase was not new then. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. made a utilitarian argument for this in his judgment of "Northern Securities Co. v. United States" (1904): Holmes's dissenting opinion in the case,