I think FAA's reputation was more tarnished during in the grounding than the original approval, and their failure to investigate thoroughly after the first cras

I think FAA's reputation was more tarnished during in the grounding than the original approval, and their failure to investigate thoroughly after the first crash, the delayed the grounding for two days and doing it only after many other regulators did and put pressure on them was really damaging. Similarly Boeing actively blaming pilot error after the first crash and ignoring reports from the field is the real issue to me rather than poor design itself. Every new version of any commercial aircraft is long line of decisions cutting corners, 737's airframe were designed in 1960's for smaller older engines requiring the newer larger engines to placed in the more complex higher position- maintaining the airframe was cheaper than building a brand new model. Keeping the same performance made training/ type certification cheaper etc for airlines. For the most part such decisions do work, developing brand new airplane models is extremely risky financially. It is plausible that risks were not understood well during design and developement, but their failure to act after the first crash is criminal negligence to me and they deserve all they are getting .