Consider the following still open problem: For any Banach space X, ordered by a closed generating cone C ⊆ X, does there always exist Lipschitz functions (•) ± : X → C satisfying x = x + − x − for every x ∈ X?We discuss the connections of this problem to a large number of other branches of mathematics: set-valued analysis, selection theorems, the nonlinear geometry of Banach spaces, Ramsey theory, Lipschitz function spaces, duality theory, and tensor products of Banach spaces. We give equivalent reformulations of the problem, and, through known examples, provide circumstantial evidence that the above question could be answered in the negative.