Originally published at: https://gizadeathstar.com/2024/06/more-aircraft-woes-for-boeing/
Regular readers here know my attitude toward flying: I do not do it, and won’t do it, ever again. When I returned from Oxford to America in 1987, that was my last flight on an airplane. I simply will not fly, anywhere, ever. Period. My reasons for that are personal, but you may number terrible…
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The problem may extend beyond competence. I can sometimes perceive where a person is on the dedication versus indifference spectrum. Sometimes being hyper vigilant about quality is looked down on because ‘right think’ is valued as a preferred trait.
I think the miserable cost of living is affecting attitude and people respond by not caring.
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Having worked in that business many years (different company) there was a time where annuity-based retirement benefits engendered a strong sense of loyalty to a company. The only vestiges of that era are the old still getting checks from one of those. The switch to the 401K system where a company has no responsibility beyond the last paycheck changed employee loyalty. It also made job hopping one of the best ways to boost your salary up the ladder a bit (less employee stability leads to a weaker organization). About the same time began the social promotions (nepotism was always a struggle, but there was still room for the competent to rise), followed later by a tolerance of degeneracy that ran counter to the values of the general culture of the employees. These things incentivized by the year-end bonus structure of executives, and doubtless were levied by major shareholder corporations like Blackrock. And now, the evidence Dr Farrell points out, open celebration of social aspirations that have nothing to do with the core competency of the organization. The result is what you’re seeing. Poor quality in what was once the highest value most respected product manufactured in the United States.
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All true, but still my money is on industrial espionage and sabotage. China is a culprit in my opinion.
I agree. Sabotage cannot not be ruled out.
Whenever I see a new spate of news stories about the same thing, I always wonder, “Why this? Why now?” And I always suspect there’s a specific (usually nefarious) agenda behind it. That is not to say I don’t believe aircraft quality, and the quality of goods and services in general, is deteriorating right along with our cultural deterioration.
As I’ve heard mentioned, perhaps one function is to get people to voluntarily reduce the amount they travel. Mr. Globaloney clearly dreams of keeping us all corralled within a 15 minute bike ride of our homes. There are likely other functions stacked within this recent wave of news coverage, but I can’t figure out what they might be.
@aurajenn I agree about people’s attitude toward their jobs these days. It reminds me of the old Soviet joke “We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us.” This is but one example of the overall decline of U.S. culture.
@XSEXCESS Absolutely. Any sense of loyalty of employees to a company, or vice versa, is long gone. The cultural value of taking pride in the quality of one’s work is also disappearing. Financialization of the economy, including the takeover of so many companies by private equity firms with no connection to or care for the companies they buy (beyond how many expenses they can cut and how much profit they can squeeze from those companies), is one of the major problems.
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Planes aren’t the only problem they have.
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This was an excellent point about the effect of retirement/401K benefits &c. Thank you!
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Yup I agree FiatLux… good points and thanks for reminding us of them.
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At present I am reading a bio of Gen. George Marshall…WHO??? Most people have never heard of him, but during his heyday he was the most admired person in the U.S. & the world. Made the cover of Time as “Man of The Year” twice. He had been active in both W. Wars & what I didn’t realize is that he was responsible for our country deciding to “shore up” the depleted state of the European economies. How that all played out is an inside look at how politics works on the ground level. It also shows how one man CAN influence w/w happenings! In Ike’s bio I noticed that after he came home a hero after WWII, so many of the rich Republicans wanted to be his “friend” & thus many important positions were delegated to CEO’s who had run companies. Enter the Yuppies & the 60’s mindset…making money is all that matters…which brings in the decay Joseph has pointed out. Ike found out there was a circle of people who had major influence in the trajectory of the country & he was ushered into that circle. Gen. Marshall seems to have been a man who was truly interested in healing the world & that was his main objective. All his energies went into that. Many people scoff at the “Q” Thing, but what it HAS done is wake up a lot of people who would otherwise still be dozing along in the 50’s numbed mindset!! Martin Geddes is one great example of that! We are watching the playout of a System that took over our country & it is up to each one of us in our own little corner to be a Positive Influence in however small our Social Circle might be!! Thank you, Joseph, for the very important role you have played in broadening the thinking of a great many people!!
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While you’re thanking me for broadening people’s minds, you might want to consult what I wrote about General Marshall in the second book on Senator McCarthy… there’s a case to be made that he was neither great nor good…
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Thanks, Joseph!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Genius plan of bulding up Europe afer war with the money looted by Nazi, deposited in Nazi bank in Frankfurt, by original grifter of the grifters general Marshall. Only in America😁
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An eye-opener!
I read that book, and was surprised at the very deep the penetration of “our” governance.
One could then, read the writing on the wall.
What has transpired since then; although surprising, is really in-sync with the deep-penetration.
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