a deepening aversion to change at the very moment it is becoming impossible to resist

This is the article's keystone. Pull it out and the rest crumbles.

When will we see some substantiation for this claim?

1. Aversion to change? No, Mr Stephens, people are not averse to change. They are averse to getting a worse and worse deal and being told that they'd better get used to the idea that there's more of that coming. While the rich get richer.

2. At the very moment? It's been a quarter of a century we've been hearing we have to accept tough "reforms"; and fifteen years that globalisation is an inevitable tide.

3. Impossible to resist? We'll see about that.