It is one of the truisms of the eurozone crisis: the reluctance of Germany to foot the bill for saving the single currency. Few of us actually enjoy picking up the tab for others. In the case of Germany, however, the stance of “not one more cent for Europe is short-sighted and runs counter to their actual interests. The truth is that if the euro fails, Germany’s middle class will pay the highest price.

关于欧元区危机有一点不言自明：德国不愿意为拯救欧元买单。事实上，很少有人喜欢为别人买单。但对德国而言，“再也不给欧洲一个子的立场是短视的，也有违该国的实际利益。其实，如果欧元解体，受影响最大的将是德国中产阶级。

A good part of German middle- class prosperity derives from the dividends of labour market and structural reforms made in the first decade of this century. These helped counter the kind of hollowing out of the country’s industrial base that the US and Japan have experienced. Today manufacturing in Germany still accounts for more than 25 per cent of the economy. In the US it has fallen to a little more than 12 per cent; in Japan it stands at about 20 per cent, down from 35 per cent in the 1970s.

德国中产阶级的富裕很大程度上得益于两点：劳动力市场红利以及本世纪头十年的结构性改革。这两点也有助于防止德国遭遇美国和日本经历过的那种产业基地空心化。如今，制造业在德国经济中所占比重仍然超过25%。这一比重在美国已降至12%多一点；在日本已从上世纪70年代的35%下降并稳定保持在如今的20%。

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