Trade surplus is neither evil nor a problem in itself.

Trade surplus without a safety valve (the ability to devalue a currency) is very much a problem since it leads to unsustainable debt buildups.

Germany should be running a trade deficit with the rest of Europe right now but it refuses to.

Unless your currency policy is fixed by those you buy from. That's the fundamental problem here.

It has TRADE surplus. You were talking about funds. There is a substantial amount of money flowing from Germany, France and others into less fortunate countries via EU governed programs.

Not the same kind of money, though. This is money that is part of the problem. The money goes in and the debt goes up twice as much. Not the same as the California example above.

No I'm talking about TRADE surplus.

But EastLondonCoder and davrosthedalek were not talking about trade surplus. You are yelling at them for saying something that is true, because they're not talking about what you think they're talking about.