Without realizing it, Gross, in noting that America has a lot of money to spend, has stumbled close to the truth. But, for an economics editor, he seems to deploy remarkably little economics.

The answer to your question, Daniel, is: the current account deficit. The offset of that is increasing foreign ownership of US assets. Indeed, it is precisely the sale of these assets that finances our consumption binge. It is, therefore, our vast consumption that is responsible, ultimately, for all those foreign names.

Two minor points. First, I can testify from personal experience that France has dynamite health clubs. Second, maybe Daniel does not get into many service station rest rooms, but I do and I can confidently say that almost all of them appear to be, at best, from the Brezhnev era. Lukoil has, in this case, hit the market dead on.

Usually I try to avoid service station restrooms. The condition of the restroom has considerably less effect on my choice of service station than price & quality of gasoline. Who chooses where they'll buy anything based on how clean or modern the restrooms are? Maybe a hotel room or something like that...

:o)

You do realize that the way gasoline is distributed through the country, that the fuel you buy from one station came out of the same pipeline that the station across the street sells? It may have different additives after the fact, but it's all the same base fuel.