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FAA orders grounding of more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9s

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Re: FAA orders grounding of more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9s

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> B was pressured to buy McD for 'national security' reasons. Creating monopolies and reducing suppliers actually harms "national security." Our braindead managerial class in action.

That is correct. However MDD was manufacturing key military products (F-15, F-18) and it was doing bad financially, going bankrupt and jeopardizing the fighter plane production and maintenance was a "national security" problem that forced the Boeing acquisition of MDD.

How was MDD going bankrupt Boeings problem?

If it’s a national security issue, that’s the governments problem to fix, surely?

Re: FAA orders grounding of more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9s

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget that f-er Harry Stonecipher, a man who gave "don't give a shit" a bad name.

The way you phrased it, I figured that "don't give a shit" was a Stonecipher catch phrase or something. Sort of like Zuckerberg's "move fast and break things".

Stonecipher was the "leadership" that came in from McD when they effectively took over Boeing, replacing their traditional care with literally anything for a buck.

Re: FAA orders grounding of more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9s

#244

Good book describing the cultural change from engineering-focus to business-focus of Boeing: * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55994102-flying-blind * https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646497/flying-blind...

Has there been any push to break up Boeing?

How about nationalizing it?

Re: FAA orders grounding of more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9s

#245

One troubling aspect of this is that it appears Alaska had reason to believe something was wrong with this plane but basically ignored it. They were getting pressurization warnings on prior flights, but the only action they took was restricting the plane from flying ETOPS routes. They're the dominant carrier in my area, so these sorts of screwups make me nervous. I can't easily avoid using them without a fair amount…

I haven't trusted Alaska since the Flight 261 crash, where they failed to do basic maintenance for so long that the screw threads in the stabilizer system wore away and locked the plane in the "straight down" orientation. And fired and sued a mechanic who reported the problem. 100% fatalities.

That's more than two decades ago. People involved must have long left the company. They might even be working for other airlines.

Re: FAA orders grounding of more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9s

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in other words: capitalism, the system we've designed our whole society around

No, this isn't a well-functioning capitalist system. Competition is a core principle of capitalism. What occurred in the aerospace industry represents a government-sanctioned monopoly.

In the last 20 years nearly every industry has seen major consolidation between just a few large companies.

Is any part of the capitalist system "well functioning" anymore?

Re: FAA orders grounding of more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9s

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it's not like driving is especially safe. It's just that traffic deaths are so routine that they're not generally widely reported, while pretty much every major issue with an airplane gets national attention. In the US, traffic deaths amount to the equivalent of a fully loaded 747 lost with all hands every couple days.

Whether it’s true or not, I feel like I control my fate when driving a lot more than when flying. I can take precautions (defensive driving, avoiding bad conditions, etc.) but have little to no control once I board a plane.

When someone runs a red light at speed and t-bones you on your left you're dead no matter how defensively you drive.

The illusion of control doesn't change your odds much.

Re: FAA orders grounding of more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9s

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> B was pressured to buy McD for 'national security' reasons. Creating monopolies and reducing suppliers actually harms "national security." Our braindead managerial class in action.

That is correct. However MDD was manufacturing key military products (F-15, F-18) and it was doing bad financially, going bankrupt and jeopardizing the fighter plane production and maintenance was a "national security" problem that forced the Boeing acquisition of MDD.

That's when the government goes, "buys" the design for some price it decides, and distributes for other companies to manufacture.

Re: FAA orders grounding of more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9s

#249
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has there been any push to break up Boeing?

The problem with breaking up Boeing is Airbus. Nowadays, to realistically restore competiveness in an industry, you'd have to coordinate a worldwide breakup of similarly-integrated competitors.

If the broken-up bits are uncompetitive with a monolith, that’s an argument against pursuing a break-up.

Re: FAA orders grounding of more than 170 Boeing 737 Max 9s

#250

[flagged]

Yeah and their practices have spread into big tech too.

Their practices spread everywhere, most corporations behave following Jack Welch's MBA teachings: cut costs (massive layoffs are Welch's bread and butter), return as much as possible to shareholders because they are the only important players in the corporate game (fuck society, fuck the workers).

I hate Welch and all of his acolytes with a passion.

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