Even the suits think Boeing has problems

[ZoWie]

CNBC had two of their typical old white guys in suits who work for some companies or other on-air discussing Boeing's apparently impending "retirement" of their CEO. They agreed that the problem is that ever since Donald Douglas took over the company a zillion years ago, the bean counters have been in control instead of the people who came up through engineering or production. (You will remember that the suits on CNBC agree on anything about as often as Republicans and Democrats do.) Both of them also seemed resigned to the probably inevitable outcome that another MBA with a business school background will probably be next in line to stress shareholder profit over quality.

You might have read the history, and might know that Douglas Aircraft got into a very similar problem with the DC-10, and got out of civil aviation after that. I'm sure GoU is only too aware of this.

[gounion]

CNBC had two of their typical old white guys in suits who work for some companies or other on-air discussing Boeing's apparently impending "retirement" of their CEO. They agreed that the problem is that ever since Donald Douglas took over the company a zillion years ago, the bean counters have been in control instead of the people who came up through engineering or production. (You will remember that the suits on CNBC agree on anything about as often as Republicans and Democrats do.) Both of them also seemed resigned to the probably inevitable outcome that another MBA with a business school background will probably be next in line to stress shareholder profit over quality.

You might have read the history, and might know that Douglas Aircraft got into a very similar problem with the DC-10, and got out of civil aviation after that. I'm sure GoU is only too aware of this.

What we never understood is that McDonnell Douglas was the weak company that was basically swallowed up by the strong and healthy Boeing, but it was MCD that ended up running the merged corporation, and that was a disaster from the beginning.

Hey us unions are used to always being right, but that’s not very satisfying when lives and jobs are lost as a result of not being listened to.

[ZoWie]

You're right, the merger was too long ago and I didn't know that Douglas was actually the weak party in the merger. Presumably this is after the DC-10 fiasco, and the short, sickening decline of Douglas as a commercial airliner mfr. Douglas was big in Santa Monica, the next burg over from the Palisades, and we had neighbors etc who knew all about this particular decline and fall.

The result is the same though... bad management triumphs again.

[gounion]

You're right, the merger was too long ago and I didn't know that Douglas was actually the weak party in the merger. Presumably this is after the DC-10 fiasco, and the short, sickening decline of Douglas as a commercial airliner mfr. Douglas was big in Santa Monica, the next burg over from the Palisades, and we had neighbors etc who knew all about this particular decline and fall.

The result is the same though... bad management triumphs again.

.aaaaaaand idiots like Glenn blame the unions. If things go great, it’s all because of management, and if things go wrong, blame the workers.

[ZoWie]

The unions aren't why the huge Douglas factory at Santa Monica Airport is now a Mexican restaurant and a doggy park.

[Glennfs]

.aaaaaaand idiots like Glenn blame the unions. If things go great, it’s all because of management, and if things go wrong, blame the workers.

If the problems were coming out of Charleston you would be blaming the non union facility.
You know that, I know that and everyone here knows that.

[gounion]

If the problems were coming out of Charleston you would be blaming the non union facility.
You know that, I know that and everyone here knows that.

The problems in Charleston are because of bad management, and they aren’t training the workers properly, so they can blame them when things go wrong.

Again, things go good, you credit management. When they go bad, you blame the workers.

EVERY. FUCKING. TIME.

[ZoWie]

What I know is that Glenn is far more predictable than the Earth's magnetic field.