China’s leaders see the writing on the wall. They know their investment-driven growth model is running out of steam, their people are about to age and die off in huge numbers, their country is becoming a barren wasteland, and their efforts to engineer innovation from the top down may not pan out. They also recognize that a prolonged economic slump spells the end of their country’s rise and, perhaps, of the CCP. Without sustained economic growth, the gravy train of subsidies and bribes that China’s leaders use to keep powerful interests (state-owned enterprise bosses, local governments, and,
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