But with pay TV growth slowing, the fault lines are starting to show.

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In fact, it defies credibility that the growth of an epidemic is the fault of the afflicted.

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Mr. Obama has managed to skirt responsibility for anemic growth by claiming that it is the fault of George W. Bush and everyone before that.

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Ethnic, political and social fault lines, papered over by the unprecedented economic growth of the past decades, are starting to show nasty cracks.

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It sits atop several big political and social fault lines of our day: trade, technology, growth, education, planning versus chaos and equity versus salary.

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Nor is it Mr Brown's fault that his succession was followed by a dip in the impressively consistent economic growth over which, as chancellor, he presided, and by biting rises in the price of energy and food over which he has little control.

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