American Standard???

It turns out the rumors I've been hearing seem to be unfortunately true. Somebody help me understand:


How could American restroom standards have dropped this much during my short three months of living abroad?


Is it due to the battered US housing market? Global warming? Flattering the Chinese to get cheaper advertising rates during the 2008 Olympics? I need answers.

Whatever the reason may be, I'm definitely not ready for the words "American Standard" on any of these bad boys.