Some artists, I believe, are playing the game of creating and solving problems - where they make up the rules so that interesting problems can arise. J.S. Bach and his canons for example.

It may also be joked that some politicians aren't solving actual problems (but creating new ones) in their day job.

> It may also be joked that some politicians aren't solving actual problems (but creating new ones) in their day job.

By creating problems, they solve a problem of a lack of suitable problems. Thus creating the much needed liquidity in the free market of problems.

Some politicians do solve problems sometimes; it's the bulk of the massive bureaucracy in government that doesn't solve problems, other than feeding itself and ensuring its own propagation.

Honestly, you really can't separate the two. Half the bureaucracy is the direct result of political action, and each political action further constrains the ability to quickly mobilize further political actions due to the necessity of conflict resolution.

It would be more accurate to say some politicians solve problems for some time; after which their solution becomes someone else's problem.

The idea is to keep your mind clear on what the priority is. If you didn't write many lines of code but still solved problems, you did your job. The two aren't mutually exclusive, but it helps in prioritization