This could very well be true. I've traveled through China twice and it's barely controlled chaos. The Taiwanese have a saying that the mainland Chinese are capable of building things really quickly that they cannot maintain. China is quickly turning into a desert. The acid rain there is horrible and people from province to province can't even speak Mandarin I see China as the former USSR eventually splintering into several small countries. They also have done a horrible job making friends out of their bordering nations. On a trip to Mongolia from China they had to stop the trains, hoist them up and change the wheels because the rails are different sizes in China from the Trans Siberian railroad. How many Chinese does it take to change a light bulb? None, they just throw away the lamp and buy a new one.
Formal education and innovation are not necesarily related to one another. However, we do have a culture of risk-taking that has historically rewarded an entrepreneurial spirit. Right now, sadly, that's being crushed under the weight of regulation.
All I ask is that innovation be exposed to market forces. If solar were competitive, then I'd be all for it.
