This may have finally been accepted by an expert community that endorsed state intervention in response to the last economic threat. The debate continues, though, over how much policy progress has been and will be made. Many saw the 2013 Party plenary meetings as a sea change. The challenge was cast as implementation, over the opposition of dreaded "vested interests."

False. The government's plans are inadequate even if implemented well. As for its actions to this point, nibbling does not erode large and growing problems. Successful reform will be unmistakable, not revealed by squinting at tea leaves.

The standard way to demonstrate all this is to chronicle the economic and financial weaknesses – debt, aging and so on – reform must overcome. Such chronicles have now spread far and wide. It is probably more useful at this point to identify the necessary fixes for the weaknesses.