Escape Plan

Apparently Boeing is having a record year selling its latest aircraft, the Humongo-787 (that's the technical name; it's also known simply as the 787). And a number of these are going to Emirate Airlines, which is also a big Airbus customer. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking, but the thought crosses my mind that a lot of fat Saudi sultans are starting to think it's best to keep a ready air-travel capability, for the fast-approaching day when the murderers and lunatics they've nurtured start coming for their heads. And when jetting to the sunny climes that once harbored the Nazi criminals that are their fitting forbears, why not do it in comfort?

Speaking of the product of a byzantine, bureaucratic company propped up only by marketing glitz and government help, GM now says it will lay off 30,000 people and close nine plants. But analysts are skeptical that this won't do enough to salvage the company.

Think about what an enterprise has become when the experts declare that the best way for it to survive is to stop producing. Lovely. Good riddance, this Toyota driver says.