SO let's stop thinking for a minute or two about Germany and Greece, and consider the United States and the economic tales of two of its states. First, there is the economy of California. In 2013, it accounted for 13 per cent of America's US$16.7 trillion gross domestic product (GDP). And California itself had a GDP that was larger than that of all but seven countries in dollar terms (the US, China, Japan, Germany, France, Brazil and the UK).

And then there is the economy of West Virginia. According to a World Bank study, it would be the 62nd largest economy globally - behind Iraq and ahead of Croatia. The state's residents are some of the country's most impoverished, earning low wages working in the coalmines. And with a relatively low population of less than two million, the state's residents do not send a lot of tax dollars to Washington, DC. In fact, West Virginia's residents end up on the receiving end of more federal tax dollars than they contribute.

And now let's start thinking once again about Germany and Greece and ask the following: Why are the rich Californians willing to subsidise those poor West Virginians, recognising that West Virginia would probably remain an economic basket case in the foreseeable future? And why won't the prosperous Germans agree to do the same when it comes to the destitute Greeks?