America bashers might be surprised how much foreign investment there is in the USA.  If they have a pension or other retirement, US investments might be in it.  Note that some members of the coalition in Iraq are some of the biggest investers in the USA. 


Foreign Investment in the United States
by Mack Ott

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Despite the notoriety of Japanese investors, the British have the largest U.S. direct investment holding?with the Dutch not far behind?as has been the case since colonial times. In 1990 the United Kingdom held about 27 percent of foreign direct investment in the United States, significantly greater than Japan's 21 percent. The European Economic Community (EC) collectively holds about 57 percent. Moreover, according to research by Eric Rosengren, between 1978 and 1987, Japanese investors acquired only 94 U.S. companies, putting them fifth behind the British (640), Canadians (435), Germans (150), and French (113).

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Great_Satan said:
If they have a pension or other retirement, US investments might be in it

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do you mean that "social security" in other countries is invested in US markets? at least in Scandinavia, the concept of investing social security in the stock market is seen as ridiculous - markets are inherently instable - sure, you might come out a winner, but you also might come out a loser - and they have a strange notion that retired people deserve to have a certain standard of living I believe that the investment you were referring to is mostly private investment - and thus not connected to pension.

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Great_Satan said:
Come on. We know all those supposed welfare states are heavely invested in the US.

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at least in Scandinavia, the concept of investing social security in the stock market is seen as ridiculous

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David Cross talked about that. He said something to the effect of, "Why don't we just take our social security to the horse race and bet it all on 'Papa's Mustache'?"