A new player has to invest ~$100 in order to fully upgrade their training grounds.
Then new players are encouraged not to fight but only to train.
And even if they only train for a year, they would only gain ~33k strength.
And would still be some 100k strength behind the top dogs.
If I was a new player starting the game, I would quit the moment I realize this.
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Another reason to leave:
Even if I have the money to invest into new companies, despite the effort and time I invest as well, the first Returns on the Investment won't come before 2017.
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On the other hand, I can easily become a CP in any country of my choosing in less than half a year. But, is this a reason to stay? If there is no competition for the leadership positions; if the majority of people try to avoid or at least diminish the time they spend in the game, how good of an indicator is it that becoming CP is worthed nowadays?
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The article endorsements did provide a little incentive to writers to restart publishing internationally. But then, it costs me ~$1000 to buy votes and get my article into the top5 
I like saying that eRepublik is a game where various communities compete on various levels. But.. there isn't really any competition. The Top5 is secure, or manipulated by multies. Admins can't do anything about it MUs hit hard only if Plato offers them an incentive to do so - country administrations have no way, but with COs (I will never use an energy bar if CO is below $30 - in D4, this is never the case ); the Cabinet consists of people from all parties, so there can't be a real change in power. There is no diversity between players anymore...
