5 ms·

>We have always held true to our values of safety, quality and integrity and those values are complementary and mutually reinforcing with productivity and compa

>We have always held true to our values of safety, quality and integrity and those values are complementary and mutually reinforcing with productivity and company performance It says something very bad about the state of accountability in this country when someone's negligence can kill hundreds of people and they have absolutely nothing to fear from putting out a completely horseshit statement like that. Half a dozen different Boeing executives should be in prison for the rest of their lives on 346 counts of manslaughter but I'd be amazed if Boeing faces so much as a monetary fine.

ekianjo 7y ago
do you pass the same judgment on car manufacturers since they are also somewhat responsible for numerous deaths every single year?
- Causality1 7y ago
  Indeed I do. For example, the Takata corporation negligently ignored many warnings that its airbags were unsafe. This resulted in hundreds of injuries and the deaths of 24 people. The Takata corporation was fined ~250% of its annual EBIT and three of its executives were prosecuted. For Boeing, a comparable fine would be thirty billion dollars. If you multiplied the fine by the ratio of deaths, the fine would be over 420 billion dollars.
  - ekianjo 7y ago
    That would bankrupt Boeing. That's probably not a desirable outcome for such a company - and this would discourage any investment in aviation moving on.
    - AJ007 7y ago
      Or it would clear the playing field, at least in the US.
    - Marsymars 7y ago
      For reference, Takata was bankrupted, and its assets sold off.
    - amyjess 7y ago
      > That would bankrupt Boeing. That's the point. The idea is to inflict the death penalty on any company who plays games with human lives like this.
      - ekianjo 7y ago
        If there was no malicious intent in the first place you cannot really say they were playing games with human lives. Cutting corners happen everywhere, and in a space as regulated as aviation Boeing cannot be the only one to blame either.
    - Causality1 7y ago
      It is the job of the federal government to protect the lives of its citizens by enforcing the law. It is not the job of the federal government to protect the existence of certain corporations by giving them special exemptions to the law. But even if you wanted to do that, you can still have your cake and eat it too. Boeing's yearly profit is 4.2 billion dollars. Take three billion of that per year and let them pay off the fine over ten years.
      - ekianjo 7y ago
        Thats all good and dandy but the Federal government has not just one mission but several hundreds of them. They also have to protect their citizen from foreign threats and Boeing is also huge in the military space. Conflicts of interests everywhere.

ekianjo 7y ago

do you pass the same judgment on car manufacturers since they are also somewhat responsible for numerous deaths every single year?

Causality1 7y ago
Indeed I do. For example, the Takata corporation negligently ignored many warnings that its airbags were unsafe. This resulted in hundreds of injuries and the deaths of 24 people. The Takata corporation was fined ~250% of its annual EBIT and three of its executives were prosecuted. For Boeing, a comparable fine would be thirty billion dollars. If you multiplied the fine by the ratio of deaths, the fine would be over 420 billion dollars.
- ekianjo 7y ago
  That would bankrupt Boeing. That's probably not a desirable outcome for such a company - and this would discourage any investment in aviation moving on.
  - AJ007 7y ago
    Or it would clear the playing field, at least in the US.
  - Marsymars 7y ago
    For reference, Takata was bankrupted, and its assets sold off.
  - amyjess 7y ago
    > That would bankrupt Boeing. That's the point. The idea is to inflict the death penalty on any company who plays games with human lives like this.
    - ekianjo 7y ago
      If there was no malicious intent in the first place you cannot really say they were playing games with human lives. Cutting corners happen everywhere, and in a space as regulated as aviation Boeing cannot be the only one to blame either.
  - Causality1 7y ago
    It is the job of the federal government to protect the lives of its citizens by enforcing the law. It is not the job of the federal government to protect the existence of certain corporations by giving them special exemptions to the law. But even if you wanted to do that, you can still have your cake and eat it too. Boeing's yearly profit is 4.2 billion dollars. Take three billion of that per year and let them pay off the fine over ten years.
    - ekianjo 7y ago
      Thats all good and dandy but the Federal government has not just one mission but several hundreds of them. They also have to protect their citizen from foreign threats and Boeing is also huge in the military space. Conflicts of interests everywhere.