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This really isn't an accurate description of what happened. In fact, the contrast between Boeing and Airbus is instructive. Boeing is exactly what happens in th
by CPLX 11mo ago
This really isn't an accurate description of what happened. In fact, the contrast between Boeing and Airbus is instructive. Boeing is exactly what happens in the event of unregulated capitalism, which is endless mergers and attempts to exploit monopoly power and relentless efforts to satisfy the financial sector.
The end state of unregulated capitalism for a company like Boeing is a “capital-light” company based entirely on monopoly power and relationships that hardly manufactures anything at all, having outsourced everything to subsidiaries and suppliers to satisfy the return on capital requirements of Wall Street.
The Airbus approach is a clear contrast to this. The fact that Boeing has imploded while Airbus has thrived is, in fact, a very helpful counterpoint to reflexive and idiotic market fundamentalist ideology.
- lazide 11mo agoAirbus literally is the result of mergers of many countries aircraft manufacturers [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus], including - from that list, Messerschmitt. In capitalist systems. Boeing is also still a going concern, and is a major competitor to Airbus. It hasn’t ’imploded’. It is having some difficulty right now - but more due to the entire US economy going through a ‘narcissistic’ phase. Airbus has plenty of issues a decade or two ago, including very similar issues to what Boeing has recently been going through.
- CPLX 11mo agoThe problems with Boeing aren’t generic. They’re created by people, and policies. https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/its-time-to-nationalize-and-then https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/its-time-to-nationalize-a...
- lazide 11mo agoThe problems Airbus had were also created by people and policies? History rhymes for a reason.
- CPLX 11mo agoI don’t think the problems Airbus have had are comparable to the likely criminal, and clearly negligent, meltdown that Boeing has had.
- lazide 11mo ago[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_affair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_affair] [http://www.crashdehabsheim.net/CRenglish%20phot.pdf http://www.crashdehabsheim.net/CRenglish%20phot.pdf] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_Airbus_A320_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incident...] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447] - similar type of issue (likely) as the MAX problems. Improper training + bad sensors + design that is too prone to problems. Just to name a few. Potentially worse.
- _DeadFred_ 11mo agoBoeing was also pressured to outsource world wide, to spread around the grease to countries with large aircraft orders. They they didn't outsource because it made sense. They outsourced to get the sales guy his sale, and management their numbers to unlock compensation. My buddy refused to work there just because of the nightmare of trying to certify it all/ensure compliance at every point.
- CPLX 11mo agoThat's really not accurate. Yes, that is a thing that also happened, but that's not why Spirit Aerosystems existed, which is what I'm talking about. It's because Wall Street demands returns on capital in a way that's fundamentally incompatible with hardcore high tech manufacturing.
- lazide 11mo agoAirbus does the same thing right now - [https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/commercial-aircraft/the-life-cycle-of-an-aircraft/production https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/commercial-aircr...]. Airbus is currently less of a problem because they more recently had huge issues/lost their minds, so they’re more on top of it right now. But it wasn’t that long ago they were literally faking black box data to cover their ass when their one of their new line of aircraft crashed at an airshow.. I don’t think Boeing ever went to that extent, but I guess we’d never know unless they did it particularly badly. Any sufficiently large/important organization tends to do stuff like this unless it is actively stopped. A generation or so is usually enough for people to forget important lessons.