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Entrenched interests?

An overwhelming majority of Americans favor the deployment of renewable energy. 40 republican senators seemed not to understand that last week. And as long as entrenched interests win, you lose.

- The Energy Bill: Entrenched Interests Win, America Loses, Gather.com, December 17, 2007.

2. Since 1985, China has been attempting to reform its public institutions, but the progress was slow and there was regression in some areas.

For example, Shanxi, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces and Shanghai and Chongqing municipalities were chosen to pilot the pension reform for public institution employees in 2008. But so far none of the five provinces and municipalities has really started the reform.

In 2009 Guangdong planned to carry out an ambitious reform of higher learning institutions. But even before implementation began, the reform program met strong opposition from the university teaching staff and was set aside.

“Except lacking the motivation to reform, many public institutions and their staff resist changes due to entrenched interests,” said Huang Hengxue, a professor at the School of Government of Peking University.

- Cracking a Hard Nut, BJReview.com.cn, July 1, 2011.

3. COULD America survive the end of the American Dream? The idea is unthinkable, say political leaders of right and left. Yet it is predicted in “Average is Over”, a bracing new book by Tyler Cowen, an economist. Mr Cowen is no stranger to controversy. In 2011 he galvanised Washington with “The Great Stagnation”, in which he argued that America has used up the low-hanging fruit of free land, abundant labour and new technologies. His new book suggests that the disruptive effects of automation and ever-cheaper computer power have only just begun to be felt.