"Charles Talleyrand" wrote

"Cub Driver" wrote
In the 1970s Boeing bet the company on the 747. Now Airbus is betting
the company on the Next Bigger Thing. Boeing has absolutely no
response to this.

There's this difference: Airbus is betting nothing. The launch aid and
below-market loans will be forgiven if the bet turns out to be bad.

Actually, Boeing's responce is "Airlines don't want big planes in big
numbers and anyone who tries this will lose money". (My paraphrase)

And they were right. The people who stand to lose money are European tax
payers. The business proposition made no sense if you were talking about
risking your_own_money.