Hacker News Reader

Re: your first point, the same happens in Europe; the relatively rich west (like the aforementioned Netherlands) pays for the relatively poor newer eastern-european states, and the farming industry in countries like Spain, and with the recent problems in Greece, spends billions to try and get that country back on its feet.

View on HN

" and the farming industry in countries like Spain,"

I don't know what this mean. The farmers in Spain are payed for not producing. I suppose the rational is protecting the farmers in France and the Netherlands. This is not redistribution in the sense of "rich" helping "poor".

The big difference is that a country in Europe has his own economy completely detached from the rest of the EU while in the US the federal state will provide money coverage for the basic state services and absorbs economic shocks distributing it on the whole country.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com