Nor does Europe have a seamless method of transferring income from flush to stricken areas. America does: cash flows automatically to troubled states with falling tax receipts and rising welfare costs, from states that are doing better. Not so in Europe, where every euro sent from prosperous Germany to struggling periphery countries is fought over both by the bailer and the bailee. “There are still no meaningful fiscal transfers among member states, despite much talk about them,” the Lindsey Group points out in its latest client advisory. German citizens don’t really see why they should fund the early retirement of Greeks, and Greeks don’t really see why Germans should set tax and labor market rules in their country. Texas oil workers might not want to support California surfers, but they are barely aware they are doing it. Besides, these automatic income transfers are one of the things that unites the United States.

Economies reflect the history and cultures of each country, something the core countries of the eurozone are finding to their amazement and pain: surprise, Greeks are not Germans. And Europeans are not Americans. Americans by and large accept the creative destruction wreaked by entrepreneurs, while Europeans put greater emphasis on preserving the status quo. And “union,” as in European Union, is different from “united,” as in United States. The differences between conservative Texas and liberal New York are nothing compared with the differences between, say, Germany and Spain, or even between Italy and Spain.