The U.S. Treasury Secretary has castigated the Europeans at a conference in Wroclaw, Poland. He says they ought to get it together and increase the size of their bailout fund. Otherwise it can’t handle the job of bailing out Greece and potentially Italy.

But what the U.S.A. doesn’t understand is that the Euro Zone is not the United States of Europe. The 17 member countries are not like states in the U.S.A. There is no one central political and economic authority that can make policy. Germany is nearing the end of its patience with Greece. Most Germans won’t support increasing the bailout fund and paying additional taxes. They don’t feel any affinity with the Greeks.

Remember that Europe is still operating in the shadow of World War II. That’s all that needs to be said.