And yet you will continue to see people, invariably Americans, argue that the Germans do not want to see US bases close, because they are dependent on the jobs. The 1960's called and they want their economic argument back.
If the German economy was capable of taking on re-unification costs, Germany could easily handle greater autonomy w.r.t. the US.
I'm actually german and I'll take the bait. Ramstein, one of the largest US Airbases in Europe is in a pretty desolate area of Germany. A lot of american troops pass through there (to and from Iraq and Afghanistan). The soldiers bring money and jobs - it would be political suicide for the local politics to demand a withdrawal. Heidelberg and Würzburg have large deployments as well.
It's not like we could not shoulder the economic impact, in terms of the gross domestic product that's a tiny amount, it's rather that in terms of how the political landscape looks like we don't want to. (It would probably also require to sift more budget to the military etc.).
However, I doubt that the US military would give up its Airbases in Ramstein and Frankfurt over Snowden. They're far to important in the current conflicts in the middle east.
If the German economy was capable of taking on re-unification costs, Germany could easily handle greater autonomy w.r.t. the US.