Euro Area

[Furunculus]

I don't see what your point is here. I take it you mean to draw a parralel with the wealth transfer between west-east Germany after the reunification but I don't see how the situations can be compared.

Being in a monetary union a country loses its ability to set out any sort of monetary policy in regards to the other member states. But they can still distinguish themselves by setting different taxation levels, moderate wages et cetera to keep their economies competitive. Obviously eastern Germany couldn't do this after the reunification, and neither can Cornwall or Wales for that matter.

It's obvious that glaring mistakes have been made in regards to EMU and that some things should have been done differently from the start - what I don't see is why a "fiscal union" is a requirement for things to work properly.

Because it isn't just what you spend your taxes on and how much, it is where you spend them in order to even out the imbalances that prevent one part of the economy from functioning within another.
Infrastructure - welsh road building
Social security - glasgow
Public jobs - north east
Procurement - harland and wharf
Failure to do so results in a divergent economy where the poorer parts struggle to live in a richer society, and poverty is compounded. Visit Greece today.

America knows this, it operates a transfer union, it succeeds. Can the same be said for the eurozone?

The reverse side of the fiscal union coin, a transfer union, and you can't dump public money on someone else unless theirnis a social compact permitting this.
This requires a political union, or put another way; a sense of shared familial sentiment.

Is there anything else I can instruct you upon? :)