"crossing the river by feeling the stone" used to be the "strategy" for china's reform back in 1980s and 1990s. it worked when problems are partial and not intertwined. however, there are too many stones now in the river, each directing towards a different path and confusing the government along the way.
cancel the agriculture tax? ok, old problems solved and new problems are emerging, such as the irrigation works, which are taken care quite well by village government before but now have to be built and maintained by farmers with private fund and lot of waste.
keep the oil price low to make people happy? ok, people are happy (for a while) and society is stable (for a while), but oil firms rebelled and all the happiness and stability disappeared.
listen to the poor people and provide them with more healthcare security net? ok, poor guys will be safe and the government will probably go bankrupt.
just too many stones in the river now. china needs to see the big picture and take a visionary and integrated strategy to tackle those systematic problems.