Do US airlines really endanger passengers to save money?

This news report certainly suggests so and makes me afraid to fly US airlines. And there's this. I know the safety record has been good so far but I feel the issues uncovered in the news report are a ticking time bomb and that it's only a matter of time before planes start crashing. Is it safe to fly US airlines at present? Should I be worried?

In 1947 an USA Air Force plane flew from America to Europe completely by autopilot. There were no computers at the time. How was it done?

The plane took off from America, flew over the ocean, arrived in Europe and landed on a British airport completely under control of the automatic pilot. No man interfered; the autopilot took all the decisions and did everything by itself. I would have thought this impossible without a computer AI to control the plane. Anyone can explain how did that autopilot work?