The business section of today's Chicago Tribune had an interesting juxtaposition of articles. At the top of the front page was "Boeing to post record sales". Chicago-based Boeing completed its second straight year with sales of 1000+ planes, and will likely out-sell rival Airbus by 200 or more planes after Airbus posts results on January 17.

At the bottom of the page, "Toyota now No. 3 in U.S. sales". Toyota sold over 2.5 million vehicles in the US in 2006, while GM sold over 4 million. While Toyota remains far behind GM in US sales, its likely that Toyota will surpass GM in global sales in 2007.

Sandwiched in between these two articles? "Greenhouses gases to shape coal debate". The US, which has the world's largest reserves of coal, produces roughly 50% of its electricity from coal. Which leads to the dubious distinction of the US producing 20% of the world's CO2, the "pre-eminent" greenhouse gas. The article discusses various activities to establish voluntary or mandatory emission-trading schemes around the country, and includes the obligatory bow to the current tulip craze on nuclear plant construction.