> However Germany also gets decent manufacturing benefits from the income disparity in the east.

Strangely enough, the east has (by far) the highest unemployment rate in Germany:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Arbeitslo...

The big German manufacturing plants for e.g. cars are usually also found in the south/west (Daimler + Porsche around Stuttgart, BMW in Bavaria). This goes even as far as adding a "solidarity surcharge" to help the east:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Germany#Solidarity_...