Finance

There hasn't been much good news out of Auburn Hills lately. Shakeups at Chrysler Financial, no more leasing, deep discounts on cars and trucks and talks of sales or mergers have grabbed headlines, and most analysts agree Chrysler's days as an independent automaker are numbered. "I can't see how they could continue for more than a year and a half or two years," Global Insight analyst Aaron Bragman tells Wired.com.

It's up and down, but nowhere near out for Chrysler, LLC. The Big Three's smallest sibling says that it's ahead of internal estimates and has posted earnings in excess of one billion for the first half of '08. True, the company also posted a $510 million loss in Q1 according to minority shareholder Daimler. And since Chrysler is privately held, it doesn't need to tell anyone whether these earnings put it in the red or black.

Life is getting pretty tough for the airline industry.