Winning the Game of Who Frames the Problem: Debt Ceilings and School Reform
The avalanche of disgust expressed by Americans over the recent debt-ceiling compromise in Washington, D.C. and subsequent downgrading of the national credit rating highlights how perceptions, power and politics determine which problems get fixed and how. Framing a problem is subjective, not objective, and involves power far more than cool, impartial sifting of facts leading to an evidence-based decision. Those who win at this game get naming and blaming rights.
What happened in this policy controversy? Most economists and President Obama have said that the major problem the U.S. faces is generating jobs to get 13 million unemployed Americans back to full-time work. To
