Wider coverage

STEM conducted a survey and found that 52% of Czechs are overweight. The comparable figure for the U.S. is 60%, but French intellectual Bernard Henri-Lévy took a Tocquevillian tour of the U.S. and declared that it's not true that Americans are fatter than Europeans. It's just that EVERYTHING is bigger in the U.S., he said, which leads to bigheadedness too. Even U.S. toilet paper is bigger, we note. Czechs and other Europeans have to make due with a width of 9.8cm, while Americans have 11.4cm to work with, a full 16% more. One could argue that Europeans are more tree-conscious, or that their paper makers are better at selling less for more. Or, in the case of Czechs, that it's a throwback to when toilet paper was a product of short supply. But the irresistible anti-Henri-Lévy conclusion is that Americans simply have wider tushes and need the extra coverage. STEM should look into it. [Czech Republic United States obesity]