Ralph welcomes investigative journalist for Bloomberg, Peter Robison, to do a deep dive into his new book, “Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy And The Fall Of Boeing” and poses the question, “Did Boeing get away with murder?” Plus, Ralph answers more listener questions.
Peter Robison is an investigative journalist for Bloomberg and Bloomberg Businessweek. He is a recipient of the Gerald Loeb Award, the Malcolm Forbes Award, and four “Best in Business” awards from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. He is the author of Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy And The Fall Of Boeing.
There was a case where one young engineer… asked repeatedly for a more sophisticated type of flight control on the MAX. Ultimately– after the third time– he was told no. And one of his managers told him that ‘people will have to die’ before Boeing will change things.
Peter Robison, author of Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy And The Fall Of Boeing
The unions in the Seattle area had developed a power base of their own. And the company said in their own documents– which were later revealed in an NLRB case– the company felt that it would reset the relationship if they had another workforce in South Carolina– which also happened to be a lower-paid workforce– to leverage against that union workforce in Seattle.
Peter Robison, author of Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy And The Fall Of Boeing
I wrote the book from the point of view of Boeing as epitomizing what’s happened across corporate America. And you look at Purdue Pharma, you look at the performance of GE during this time period, and it’s meant to be a cautionary tale that relates not just to Boeing, but to all of corporate America.
Peter Robison, author of Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy And The Fall Of Boeing
When companies like Boeing spend over 50% of their profits on stock buybacks, they’re disinvesting in engineering, research, and development in their own company… Listeners, when you hear about all these stock buybacks, that’s just not something that the SEC may be interested in or permitting. It’s not something that some financial people on Wall Street [may be interested in]. It’s burning money. It’s not creating jobs. It’s not expanding pensions. It’s not developing research and development.
Ralph Nader
Boeing: Murder Incorporated