Yanis Varoufakis, Greek Minister of Finance during the Greek debt crises, has suggested that the (somewhat hidden) redistribution of money from the wealthy parts of USA to the poorer part via federal government spending is part of what allows the poorer parts of the USA not have the same level of problems that Greece (and Spain?) has with respect to Germany in the EU. The EU budget is about 1% of European GDP while US federal budget is abut 20% of USA GDP.