A Whopper of a good idea?

After the Cranky Economist's successful lamb roast yesterday, this post may involve a shift from the sublime to the ridiculous. But word on the street, via USA Today, is that Burger King is rolling out a new breakfast sandwich. And it's going to be even less healthy than the Whopper.

I have to admit -- I'm not a big fan of Burger King. Or McDonald's. Or most fast food. (Although I do admit to eating at Wendy's once every couple months or so.) It's not that I'm an anti-fast-food fascist. I used to love fast food. It's just that I've grown tired of the heavy feeling you get from that ball of fried food that just sits in your stomach all afternoon. So I choose to grab a tuna sandwich for lunch at a nearby deli.

Let me repeat the key phrase in there: I choose. If other people want to eat fast food, more power to 'em. There are certainly plenty of options out there.

Unfortunately, this is a somewhat uncouth opinion to hold these days. Members of the tort bar are circling the fast-food industry like sharks around an Australian surfer, smelling juicy lawsuits on behalf of overweight, sickly people who chose poorly. So this new BK breakfast sandwich is noteworthy not because it will be tasty but because it will be fattening. If they are willing to roll out such an obviously unhealthy product in the current legal climate, perhaps this suggests that they'll be willing to fight the lawyers in court.

Good news, that. America's business landscape is littered with the skeletons of industries that surrendered, settling in the face of ridiculous lawsuits instead of taking their cases into the public forum that a trial would provide. So I say, bring on the Enormous Omelet Sandwich. It's high time.