How many people believe that politicians generally fail to solve problems?
Reading the public sentiment in the EU and the US, there seems to be an increasing number of people who have checked out of their country's political process because it seems ineffective. The longer this global downturn persists, the more people will refuse to cooperate as they perceive government to have not kept its side of the bargain.
... instead assume that politics will fail to solve the problem, and analyze the consequences of that ...
As with any winnowing, the danger after-ward lies in a) what kind of grain you're left with, and b) what makes use of the chaff.