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Before First Republic reported its earnings, “I would have said that it seems like there’s a good chance they can muddle along,” David Smith of Autonomous Research told DealBook.

“Countries can muddle along with a great deal of poor economic performance and still be a major force in international politics,” noted Aaron L. Friedberg of Princeton, author of “Getting China Wrong.”

They muddle along, but with an undue burden of suffering.

The question is whether the new government is able to come up with a real strategy to push the process forward or whether it will simply “muddle along” like former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who professed her support for the region but did little to change the dynamics, said Bieber.

“We can no longer just kind of muddle along. We really have to think big, because we’re going to have to create a new regulatory framework. And it doesn’t mean that we have to start over from scratch,” Babbitt said.