Why so much institutional incompetence?

[CO. Hoosier]

Boeing’s Starliner is now scrap—and stuck at the ISS. Secret Service comes within a fraction of an inch and a fraction of a second of plunging the United States into chaos. Cloudstrike cripples much of the world. We can’t build a dock for Gaza.

The United States, and its agencies, old line companies like Boeing, and new companies like Cloudstrike, used to be the gold standard in ideas, competence, and making lives better. Now? Not so much. And look who we have for a choice for president.

Are we now paying the price for our crappy education system?

The link attempts one explanation. Crunchy systems compared to soggy systems. Crunchy works. Soggy doesn’t. Crunchy has aspects of individual responsibility. Nobody is responsible in a soggy stem. Everything is systematic—soggy institutional.

Our Crisis of Institutional Competence

Why things don't work anymore.

instapundit.substack.com

 

[mcmurtry66]

Boeing’s Starliner is now scrap—and stuck at the ISS. Secret Service comes within a fraction of an inch and a fraction of a second of plunging the United States into chaos. Cloudstrike cripples much of the world. We can’t build a dock for Gaza.

The United States, and its agencies, old line companies like Boeing, and new companies like Cloudstrike, used to be the gold standard in ideas, competence, and making lives better. Now? Not so much. And look who we have for a choice for president.

Are we now paying the price for our crappy education system?

The link attempts one explanation. Crunchy systems compared to soggy systems. Crunchy works. Soggy doesn’t. Crunchy has aspects of individual responsibility. Nobody is responsible in a soggy stem. Everything is systematic—soggy institutional.

Our Crisis of Institutional Competence

Why things don't work anymore.

instapundit.substack.com

Inertia. Cozy relationships like Boeing and its regulators. Philosophy and security. Cdc isn’t going out of business. At the same time it’s counterintuitive to ask for less bc it implies you’re not needed so programs continue to ask for more and become bloated and entrenched. Lots of reasons. And I guess you can get to a point where private entities also take on those shortcomings. Large institutional private entities. Auto makers bail outs etc.

The cdc’s failures during Covid were an eye opener. It’s certainly a fascinating topic.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Boeing’s Starliner is now scrap—and stuck at the ISS. Secret Service comes within a fraction of an inch and a fraction of a second of plunging the United States into chaos. Cloudstrike cripples much of the world. We can’t build a dock for Gaza.

The United States, and its agencies, old line companies like Boeing, and new companies like Cloudstrike, used to be the gold standard in ideas, competence, and making lives better. Now? Not so much. And look who we have for a choice for president.

Are we now paying the price for our crappy education system?

The link attempts one explanation. Crunchy systems compared to soggy systems. Crunchy works. Soggy doesn’t. Crunchy has aspects of individual responsibility. Nobody is responsible in a soggy stem. Everything is systematic—soggy institutional.

Our Crisis of Institutional Competence

Why things don't work anymore.

instapundit.substack.com

No. The answer is obvious. Institutional competence comes from experience. Thanks to you and your lot, experience is now frowned upon, because it makes you part of the elite, the deep state, etc. Institutions are failing because the competent people have been replaced by your people. Reap what you sow.

 

[T.M.P.]

No. The answer is obvious. Institutional competence comes from experience. Thanks to you and your lot, experience is now frowned upon, because it makes you part of the elite, the deep state, etc. Institutions are failing because the competent people have been replaced by your people. Reap what you sow.

There's a book about it ...

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

There's a book about it ...

Ironically, CO.H has railed against expertise on this very forum, arguing many times that he understands scientific concepts better than, you know, scientists, because he's a lawyer, and that somehow magically makes him a genius.

But then questioning why everyone is suddenly incompetent is, well, precious.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

No. The answer is obvious. Institutional competence comes from experience. Thanks to you and your lot, experience is now frowned upon, because it makes you part of the elite, the deep state, etc. Institutions are failing because the competent people have been replaced by your people. Reap what you sow.

Ironically, CO.H has railed against expertise on this very forum, arguing many times that he understands scientific concepts better than, you know, scientists, because he's a lawyer, and that somehow magically makes him a genius.

But then questioning why everyone is suddenly incompetent is, well, precious.

This isn’t about me.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

This isn’t about me.

Sure it is. You're the one who hates expertise but then laments the lack of expertise. This is very much about you, and all others like you.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

There's a book about it ...

DEI, for example, does not put a premium on experience.

In a larger sense, I think the problem lies in emphasis on pedigrees and credentials not based on experience. That’s the real harm of elitism.

 

[UncleMark]

This isn’t about me.

It's about the cartoon character you portray.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

who hates expertise

Stupid and wrong.

But I admit to taking shots at transportation experts like mayor Pete and energy experts like “my car runs on sunshine” Granholm.

 

[DDE-6-20-23]

No. The answer is obvious. Institutional competence comes from experience. Thanks to you and your lot, experience is now frowned upon, because it makes you part of the elite, the deep state, etc. Institutions are failing because the competent people have been replaced by your people. Reap what you sow.

Were absolutely PHUCKED with your attitude. And the good young ones, they weren't institutionalized by college campuses. They had a brain and looked the other way. Meanwhile, the left votes for the institutionalized Neo Nazi, Antifa, BLM, squad types who burn cities, while police under Dem control look their other way. LMFAO

Go turn your Jeopardy tonight and ace the category about programmed T.V. Meanwhile those experienced b!thes are planning the next F*ck US in there rear! DC needs burned to the ground 12 years ago!

 

[Mark Milton]

Were absolutely PHUCKED with your attitude. And the good young ones, they weren't institutionalized by college campuses. They had a brain and looked the other way. Meanwhile, the left votes for the institutionalized Neo Nazi, Antifa, BLM, squad types who burn cities, while police under Dem control look their other way. LMFAO

Go turn your Jeopardy tonight and ace the category about programmed T.V. Meanwhile those experienced b!thes are planning the next F*ck US in there rear! DC needs burned to the ground 12 years ago!

I think Librium works bro. Check it out

 

[mcmurtry66]

No. The answer is obvious. Institutional competence comes from experience. Thanks to you and your lot, experience is now frowned upon, because it makes you part of the elite, the deep state, etc. Institutions are failing because the competent people have been replaced by your people. Reap what you sow.

you've politicized something that is apolitical. now in fairness to you there's no doubt coh likes taking less than thinly veiled swipes like this at the left but there really is what at least appears to be an epidemic of institutional failures in both the private and political sectors. and i don't know what it is but - i don't think it's necessarily experience as these places have had institutional dinosaurs at every institution you can name.

boeing. mcdonnel douglas was an incredibly proud institution - engineers revered around the world who took great pride in their work. you said you worked at MD and people recognized that as being something. i've read a bunch on boeing. total clown show. and yes placing profit as THE premium plays a role in that but it seems like there's more.

cdc - the nyt COOKED the cdc. the level of ineptitude was shocking. negligent.

it goes on and on. my minion has a fracture in his clavicle. he's still fine, running around, sleeping no problem etc., but was favoring his shoulder. get him an appointment with his pediatrician. former chief of staff at the biggest hospital. examines him. might have a fracture. we're going to schedule an xray. great do you do that here? no. you have to go down to children's. wtf. okay. get to children's to get an x-ray. you going to read it now? no we'll send it to your pediatrician. he'll have it by tomorrow. okay. get a call from the pediatrician. he has a little fracture. okay can you handle that. no you need to set up an appointment with a pediatric ortho specialist. okay do you have a referral. yes call this guy. oh that's out of network. sorry. okay call the insurance co. who is in network. slu. okay call slu. get an appointment. bring a disc of the scan. okay call pediatrician. can you get me a disc. Disc? we don't have discs. we never do that. well what do i do? i guess call children's. okay call children's. yes we can give it to you on disc. but it takes two days. but his appointment is tomorrow. i don't know. okay well i'm just going to come down there.

All of this will end with a $9 sling.

i pretzeled my own bs i've been dealing with for two days but i think it's representative of just how so much feels broken. five entities and bureaucracies for a little fracture. and as much as i love ragging on the lefties i don't think this has anything to do with them as it's been going on and getting worse for some time and I don’t know why

 

[DDE-6-20-23]

Boeing’s Starliner is now scrap—and stuck at the ISS. Secret Service comes within a fraction of an inch and a fraction of a second of plunging the United States into chaos. Cloudstrike cripples much of the world. We can’t build a dock for Gaza.

The United States, and its agencies, old line companies like Boeing, and new companies like Cloudstrike, used to be the gold standard in ideas, competence, and making lives better. Now? Not so much. And look who we have for a choice for president.

Are we now paying the price for our crappy education system?

The link attempts one explanation. Crunchy systems compared to soggy systems. Crunchy works. Soggy doesn’t. Crunchy has aspects of individual responsibility. Nobody is responsible in a soggy stem. Everything is systematic—soggy institutional.

Our Crisis of Institutional Competence

Why things don't work anymore.

instapundit.substack.com

Hear Hear

 

[Mark Milton]

DEI, for example, does not put a premium on experience.

In a larger sense, I think the problem lies in emphasis on pedigrees and credentials not based on experience. That’s the real harm of elitism.

See that's what you good ole boys never understand. DEI doesn't mean inexperienced or lower grades- it means making sure efforts are made to include under represented QUALIFIED people. This boogeyman is astounding

 

[Courtsensetwo]

See that's what you good ole boys never understand. DEI doesn't mean inexperienced or lower grades- it means making sure efforts are made to include under represented QUALIFIED people. This boogeyman is astounding

This is what it should mean.

 

[hookyIU1990]

True expertise only exists with experience. Experience takes a back seat to other factors now. The slow death of meritocracy is institutional because instead of focusing on providing equal opportunity at lower levels, we focus on trying to force equal outcomes. Equal outcomes are impossible to achieve unless part of the process is to cap individual achievement.

 

[DDE-6-20-23]

I think Librium works bro. Check it out

Get a God Damned grip Milton. It's going downhill and if you think for a sec its coming back you're wrong. The freaking deficit is out of control and Trump sure as hell aint gonna fix that. Maybe he could be a band aid, but Harris and Walz HAHAHA they are f*cking clueless extreme progressives. Thats like walking into a mousetrap with a big slab of cheese.

Look at Europe right now if you're paying attention. Chaos with immigrants. Police throw citizens in jail and protect muslims out killing and raping. You see our current border situation??? You see Dearborn? Don't think it can't happen here. This country is the WORLD LEADER in PUSSIFIED human beings! PUSSIFIED buddy. This country soaks up this dem/progressive shit like kool aid. Crime will continue to spin out of control. If Trump is elected expect another Summer of Love. If the Dems get elected they will plunge us further into chaos and hell.

Hope you're paying attention. Tell me where I'm wrong!

 

[stollcpa]

Stupid and wrong.

But I admit to taking shots at transportation experts like mayor Pete and energy experts like “my car runs on sunshine” Granholm.

It’s funny to watch the little pack hyenas nip at your heals when you post. They must have a text chain to notify the pack to attack.

 

[UncleMark]

It’s funny to watch the little pack hyenas nip at your heals when you post. They must have a text chain to notify the pack to attack.

Personal attack

 

[Cortez88]

Inertia. Cozy relationships like Boeing and its regulators. Philosophy and security. Cdc isn’t going out of business. At the same time it’s counterintuitive to ask for less bc it implies you’re not needed so programs continue to ask for more and become bloated and entrenched. Lots of reasons. And I guess you can get to a point where private entities also take on those shortcomings. Large institutional private entities. Auto makers bail outs etc.

The cdc’s failures during Covid were an eye opener. It’s certainly a fascinating topic.

Regarding your Boeing complaint. The right loves to hate on regulations. But also loves to blame regulators when doors fall off of airplanes.

 

[ChicagoFineForNow]

See that's what you good ole boys never understand. DEI doesn't mean inexperienced or lower grades- it means making sure efforts are made to include under represented QUALIFIED people. This boogeyman is astounding

It does mean lower grades and especially test scores, hence the different test scores and grades for admits of different races.

 

[mcmurtry66]

Regarding your Boeing complaint. The right loves to hate on regulations. But also loves to blame regulators when doors fall off of airplanes.

For sure. But I think this was more a change in culture. From engineers to MBAs much like you hear in medicine

 

[ChicagoFineForNow]

Regarding your Boeing complaint. The right loves to hate on regulations. But also loves to blame regulators when doors fall off of airplanes.

That’s overly simplistic. Especially in the case of Boeing. Boeing is one of the governments largest contractors as well as subject to FAA regulation. Even if the department offering the contract is supposedly separate from the one doing the regulating.

The argument is that the government can’t effectively regulate a company for whom they are the largest customer. Especially when government officials are frequently taking jobs with Boeing and then back again.

The focus drifts to bloated contracts and budgets instead of sleek and effective regulation that weighs safety concerns with not being unnecessarily cumbersome.

 

[Digressions]

Lack of competition/ Barriers to entry
Focus on bottom line
Nepotism
Shift of work ethic
Generational shift of focus (self worth is measured in dollars)
Income inequality
Post-truth
Edit: Lack of skilled labor

Not an exhaustive list, but I feel all these play a role.

 

[snarlcakes]

Boeing’s Starliner is now scrap—and stuck at the ISS. Secret Service comes within a fraction of an inch and a fraction of a second of plunging the United States into chaos. Cloudstrike cripples much of the world. We can’t build a dock for Gaza.

The United States, and its agencies, old line companies like Boeing, and new companies like Cloudstrike, used to be the gold standard in ideas, competence, and making lives better. Now? Not so much. And look who we have for a choice for president.

Are we now paying the price for our crappy education system?

The link attempts one explanation. Crunchy systems compared to soggy systems. Crunchy works. Soggy doesn’t. Crunchy has aspects of individual responsibility. Nobody is responsible in a soggy stem. Everything is systematic—soggy institutional.

Our Crisis of Institutional Competence

Why things don't work anymore.

instapundit.substack.com

Governments suck. End of story.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

you've politicized something that is apolitical. now in fairness to you there's no doubt coh likes taking less than thinly veiled swipes like this at the left but there really is what at least appears to be an epidemic of institutional failures in both the private and political sectors. and i don't know what it is but - i don't think it's necessarily experience as these places have had institutional dinosaurs at every institution you can name.

boeing. mcdonnel douglas was an incredibly proud institution - engineers revered around the world who took great pride in their work. you said you worked at MD and people recognized that as being something. i've read a bunch on boeing. total clown show. and yes placing profit as THE premium plays a role in that but it seems like there's more.

cdc - the nyt COOKED the cdc. the level of ineptitude was shocking. negligent.

it goes on and on. my minion has a fracture in his clavicle. he's still fine, running around, sleeping no problem etc., but was favoring his shoulder. get him an appointment with his pediatrician. former chief of staff at the biggest hospital. examines him. might have a fracture. we're going to schedule an xray. great do you do that here? no. you have to go down to children's. wtf. okay. get to children's to get an x-ray. you going to read it now? no we'll send it to your pediatrician. he'll have it by tomorrow. okay. get a call from the pediatrician. he has a little fracture. okay can you handle that. no you need to set up an appointment with a pediatric ortho specialist. okay do you have a referral. yes call this guy. oh that's out of network. sorry. okay call the insurance co. who is in network. slu. okay call slu. get an appointment. bring a disc of the scan. okay call pediatrician. can you get me a disc. Disc? we don't have discs. we never do that. well what do i do? i guess call children's. okay call children's. yes we can give it to you on disc. but it takes two days. but his appointment is tomorrow. i don't know. okay well i'm just going to come down there.

All of this will end with a $9 sling.

i pretzeled my own bs i've been dealing with for two days but i think it's representative of just how so much feels broken. five entities and bureaucracies for a little fracture. and as much as i love ragging on the lefties i don't think this has anything to do with them as it's been going on and getting worse for some time and I don’t know why

I don’t think the problem is either expertise or experience. We are in a midst of culture changes that diminish individual effort in favor of group effor, group think, and growing intolerance for outlier people. Nobody is responsible. Failure has become “systematic “. The link said it this way. “Systems are soggy when nobody's life is obviously affected by failure. “. This is true. Why? It has to do with culture that protects people from responsibility.

 

[TommyCracker]

I don’t think the problem is either expertise or experience. We are in a midst of culture changes that diminish individual effort in favor of group effor, group think, and growing intolerance for outlier people. Nobody is responsible. Failure has become “systematic “. The link said it this way. “Systems are soggy when nobody's life is obviously affected by failure. “. This is true. Why? It has to do with culture that protects people from responsibility.

I mean when it comes to Boeing from my understanding Murt was right, they merged with McDonnell Douglas and had a problematic culture clash that happens when companies merge. There was a battle between leadership and company culture based on who won, and it was MD unfortunately.

Boeing built it's brand based on its reputation of being reliable and not as profit driven. MD was the opposite and the DC10 was riddled with problems because their leadership was a basic capitalistic belief of aggressive cost cutting, exploitation of labor and lack of honesty with issues that come up.

Anyway Boeing (again to my understanding) famously built it's birds from scratch in one location. Meaning all mechanical parts were made at or close to the location that assembled it.

That was considered by MD as not cost effective. So MD won and they had their birds parts from multiple locations, including overseas to lower costs and labor. These finished pieces were sent to an assembly plant. The problem with this is, like the business model has proven over time, that small defects and sizing specifications are not right sized to specs many times.

Those have been the core of the safety issues that we've seen lately. For example bolts are incorrect sized that are designed to lock the door. With them getting a bad manufacturing batch, the door flew open due to having a mis sized bolt.

Anyway I've heard of other manufacturered sockets and connectors failing which has caused many issues. At one point some regulator for diving had a batch of defects which caused a couple of ocean dive bombs that killed everyone on board when it should have prevented the plane from diving or something like that.

Anyway a company culture clash from a merger is what has caused the issues and concern about Boeing in my opinion. I've been part in a couple of major merger with an auto parts retail chain and they were nasty in execution because the culture can be drastically different but at the end of the day we have to show increased sales profits and net margin improvements. That's how I understood that MD's culture was big on. Boeing's culture was about reliability and safety. With MD winning the executive dominance game, they drove their basic capitalistic culture into Boeing which we are seeing huge damage to Boeing's long standing reputation.

Again it's very common in the corporate world how MD operates but, I think we'd personally rather have part issues with our TV's than with our planes.

That being said, the numbers are still greatly in favor of air travel when it comes to injury but yes, Boeing has seen its reputation get smacked from the change in leadership/culture.

 

[IUCrazy2]

No. The answer is obvious. Institutional competence comes from experience. Thanks to you and your lot, experience is now frowned upon, because it makes you part of the elite, the deep state, etc. Institutions are failing because the competent people have been replaced by your people. Reap what you sow.

Yeah...no.

 

[Baller23Boogie]

you've politicized something that is apolitical. now in fairness to you there's no doubt coh likes taking less than thinly veiled swipes like this at the left but there really is what at least appears to be an epidemic of institutional failures in both the private and political sectors. and i don't know what it is but - i don't think it's necessarily experience as these places have had institutional dinosaurs at every institution you can name.

boeing. mcdonnel douglas was an incredibly proud institution - engineers revered around the world who took great pride in their work. you said you worked at MD and people recognized that as being something. i've read a bunch on boeing. total clown show. and yes placing profit as THE premium plays a role in that but it seems like there's more.

cdc - the nyt COOKED the cdc. the level of ineptitude was shocking. negligent.

it goes on and on. my minion has a fracture in his clavicle. he's still fine, running around, sleeping no problem etc., but was favoring his shoulder. get him an appointment with his pediatrician. former chief of staff at the biggest hospital. examines him. might have a fracture. we're going to schedule an xray. great do you do that here? no. you have to go down to children's. wtf. okay. get to children's to get an x-ray. you going to read it now? no we'll send it to your pediatrician. he'll have it by tomorrow. okay. get a call from the pediatrician. he has a little fracture. okay can you handle that. no you need to set up an appointment with a pediatric ortho specialist. okay do you have a referral. yes call this guy. oh that's out of network. sorry. okay call the insurance co. who is in network. slu. okay call slu. get an appointment. bring a disc of the scan. okay call pediatrician. can you get me a disc. Disc? we don't have discs. we never do that. well what do i do? i guess call children's. okay call children's. yes we can give it to you on disc. but it takes two days. but his appointment is tomorrow. i don't know. okay well i'm just going to come down there.

All of this will end with a $9 sling.

i pretzeled my own bs i've been dealing with for two days but i think it's representative of just how so much feels broken. five entities and bureaucracies for a little fracture. and as much as i love ragging on the lefties i don't think this has anything to do with them as it's been going on and getting worse for some time and I don’t know why

Jesus, that was a roller coaster of a read.

 

[VanPastorMan]

Boeing’s Starliner is now scrap—and stuck at the ISS. Secret Service comes within a fraction of an inch and a fraction of a second of plunging the United States into chaos. Cloudstrike cripples much of the world. We can’t build a dock for Gaza.

The United States, and its agencies, old line companies like Boeing, and new companies like Cloudstrike, used to be the gold standard in ideas, competence, and making lives better. Now? Not so much. And look who we have for a choice for president.

Are we now paying the price for our crappy education system?

The link attempts one explanation. Crunchy systems compared to soggy systems. Crunchy works. Soggy doesn’t. Crunchy has aspects of individual responsibility. Nobody is responsible in a soggy stem. Everything is systematic—soggy institutional.

Our Crisis of Institutional Competence

Why things don't work anymore.

instapundit.substack.com

Did you see that one of the female secret service agents is now protecting JD Vance? If I was him I would be thinking, "I wish she was taller".

 

[Mark Milton]

I don’t think the problem is either expertise or experience. We are in a midst of culture changes that diminish individual effort in favor of group effor, group think, and growing intolerance for outlier people. Nobody is responsible. Failure has become “systematic “. The link said it this way. “Systems are soggy when nobody's life is obviously affected by failure. “. This is true. Why? It has to do with culture that protects people from responsibility.

you keep saying this, but can you point to a private sector example in support of this? I own my own busines--12 lawyers, 2 paralegals and 4 admin. I am comfortable putting my hand on a bible and saying "wtf are you talking"....Individual effort of course is rewarded. It comes from BONUSES, pats on the back and several atta boys. No idea what constitutes group think, and you can be damn well sure that everyone is responbile for for their acts/omissions. We've fired people for underperformance--several times. I represent several large national engineering firms and am intimiately involved in not just litigation but the risk management side of things. Same deal-individual effort and thought is rewarded with money and promotion. Again, nobody knows what group effort is.

There is, however, a notable difference in work ethic in the ages of 25-33. As a whole, the work ethic is shambolic, but there are good ones to be found and they are rewarded. Consequences for not working hard are easy--you don't get paid or lose your job. Eventually they all figure it out.

So much of what you talk about is contrivance and appears to come from some folks who wrote some books that fit what you wanted to hear.

We know how to build bridges. Sometimes errors happen. One of the world's top engineers made a gaffe out in Kansas City one time where he missed a revised detail on some shop drawings that ultimately caused a skywalk to collapse. One of the great structural engineers out in san fransico designed a high rise tower. Geo tech report comes back and it looks like maybe you don't have drive the foundation piles into the bedrock. He brings the possibility to the owner who says "hell yah, let's do it, it will save milliions.". Well, the math was fine--in theory it but the building settled on one side to almost 6-10" inches. Big trouble. Mistakes happen. People get greedy and cheap. Seems to me that is what happens in a capitalist market. DEI didn't play a role in the 70s when the skywalk collapsed, nor did group effort, trannies or kleptocrats. It was a mistake by a really good engineer.

I was also curious about your comments about Boeing. I went to the NTSB website to find the number of aviation accidents per year, and the number has dropped significant from the end of Bush Era to end of Biden Era--by almost 450 accidents a year.

 

[WhyisIUBBcursed]

My son is getting ready to graduate with an engineering degree from Clemson next spring. Started fall 2020. Labs were “virtual” and teaching/ learning was pathetic for a couple years. There are
Going to be a lot of plane doors fallong
Off in a few years

 

[UncleMark]

Did you see that one of the female secret service agents is now protecting JD Vance? If I was him I would be thinking, "I wish she was taller".

She's plenty wide though.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

you keep saying this, but can you point to a private sector example in support of this? I own my own busines--12 lawyers, 2 paralegals and 4 admin. I am comfortable putting my hand on a bible and saying "wtf are you talking"....Individual effort of course is rewarded. It comes from BONUSES, pats on the back and several atta boys. No idea what constitutes group think, and you can be damn well sure that everyone is responbile for for their acts/omissions. We've fired people for underperformance--several times. I represent several large national engineering firms and am intimiately involved in not just litigation but the risk management side of things. Same deal-individual effort and thought is rewarded with money and promotion. Again, nobody knows what group effort is.

There is, however, a notable difference in work ethic in the ages of 25-33. As a whole, the work ethic is shambolic, but there are good ones to be found and they are rewarded. Consequences for not working hard are easy--you don't get paid or lose your job. Eventually they all figure it out.

So much of what you talk about is contrivance and appears to come from some folks who wrote some books that fit what you wanted to hear.

We know how to build bridges. Sometimes errors happen. One of the world's top engineers made a gaffe out in Kansas City one time where he missed a revised detail on some shop drawings that ultimately caused a skywalk to collapse. One of the great structural engineers out in san fransico designed a high rise tower. Geo tech report comes back and it looks like maybe you don't have drive the foundation piles into the bedrock. He brings the possibility to the owner who says "hell yah, let's do it, it will save milliions.". Well, the math was fine--in theory it but the building settled on one side to almost 6-10" inches. Big trouble. Mistakes happen. People get greedy and cheap. Seems to me that is what happens in a capitalist market. DEI didn't play a role in the 70s when the skywalk collapsed, nor did group effort, trannies or kleptocrats. It was a mistake by a really good engineer.

I was also curious about your comments about Boeing. I went to the NTSB website to find the number of aviation accidents per year, and the number has dropped significant from the end of Bush Era to end of Biden Era--by almost 450 accidents a year.

I plead guilty to reading books. But I had no idea what I wanted to hear. Books about how Musk, the Koch Bros. G.E., (in its heyday) and Iacocca did business were pretty instructive. That door that blew off the Boeing 737 never had the bolts installed at the factory! Think about how that can happen and who has to be involved. Yet Boeing can’t say how that happened to this day.

Size matters. As everything from trash businesses to engineering firms, to tech companies merge and get bigger, individual responsibility wanes. Systems take over and problems become systematic Committees make decisions not individuals.

Oh, small to medium sized law firms are different.

 

[Mark Milton]

I plead guilty to reading books. But I had no idea what I wanted to hear. Books about how Musk, the Koch Bros. G.E., (in its heyday) and Iacocca did business were pretty instructive. That door that blew off the Boeing 737 never had the bolts installed at the factory! Think about how that can happen and who has to be involved. Yet Boeing can’t say how that happened to this day.

Size matters. As everything from trash businesses to engineering firms, to tech companies merge and get bigger, individual responsibility wanes. Systems take over and problems become systematic Committees make decisions not individuals.

Oh, small to medium sized law firms are different.

That is not at all what happened. The door was being repaird because of some issues with the rivets--they made the repair and the mechanic did not REINSTALL four of the bolts. So Boeing knew what happened and they acknoweldged the terrible mistake. This had nothing to do with shit not being installed in the factory. Was DEI, lack of individualism, accountability, etc why the Pinto blew up? How about the Nova? All well before this terrible processes were birthed according to you? How about defective products that swept through the market place from the 50s through 60s? Scores and scores of defectively designed and built products. Group think? Mistakes? Or nobody gave a damn?

It seems to me that you've never considered any arguments or positions to the contrary. No specifics about anything, except the Boeing issue and that was flat out wrong. You keep looking for a boogeyman, but sometimes people just make mistakes, although far less likely to happen now than 20 years ago.

 

[hoot1]

Boeing’s Starliner is now scrap—and stuck at the ISS. Secret Service comes within a fraction of an inch and a fraction of a second of plunging the United States into chaos. Cloudstrike cripples much of the world. We can’t build a dock for Gaza.

The United States, and its agencies, old line companies like Boeing, and new companies like Cloudstrike, used to be the gold standard in ideas, competence, and making lives better. Now? Not so much. And look who we have for a choice for president.

Are we now paying the price for our crappy education system?

The link attempts one explanation. Crunchy systems compared to soggy systems. Crunchy works. Soggy doesn’t. Crunchy has aspects of individual responsibility. Nobody is responsible in a soggy stem. Everything is systematic—soggy institutional.

Our Crisis of Institutional Competence

Why things don't work anymore.

instapundit.substack.com

It isn't our crappy educational system that scares me. It is the greatly improved educational progress of our global competitors, starting with the Chinese.

For example, my nephew's father-in-law set up a scholarship fund at Notre Dame to study nuclear physics some forty years ago. Much to his dismay few Americans applied for the scholarship with many of the applicants being Chinese.

Since then, over the years China has been slowly but surely expanding its own STEM programs to the point where it graduates far more students. Thus when you add the Chinese students taking advantage of opportunities both in the USA and the homeland the numbers are impressive.

Then when you consider that the Chinese are just naturally intelligent the total picture goes well beyond simply declaring our educational system as being a complete failure. The total picture goes to where we stand in terms of the global business market and the military threats both globally and in space.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

Cost-cutting, West below is Boeing's CFO:

“For years, we prioritized the movement of the airplane through the factory over getting it done right, and that’s got to change,” West said. “Once you reduce traveled work, your quality gets better.”

‘A ruthless effort to cut costs’: Boeing’s long fall, and how it might recover - The Daily Chronicle

The intense backlash against Boeing after the near catastrophe aboard an Alaska Airlines 737 Max in January wasn’t a reaction to an isolated manufacturing error but to a yearslong decline of …

www.chronline.com

I doubt mentioning union workers complaining about cost-cutting will mean anything, but they have long complained about Boeing cutting too much.

You don't think the Secret Service feels a need to be in budget? I know stories from long ago that the secret service isn't designed to handle so many protectors. We have so many, with so many public appearances, every 4 years. They aren't going to pay that army the other 3 years for doing nothing.

It sort of reminds me of my IRS days. Trained October-December, worked January to April 16, laid off. Out of about 100 people, 5 were kept. I was #6, missed the points for not having a degree. I suspect the vast majority of the 95 laid off never returned, so the next year it was once again an almost all rookie workforce.

Cloudstrike was stupid. They had a template with 20 variables, they added a 21st. They did not change the testing so it still only tested 20. I don't know what in the workflow was missing.

I know from personal experience that the client often demands the right to change a product almost until the second before it goes live. My protestations that I could not test it for security nor for overhead was not their concern. Crowdstrike did not have that problem, but it happens everyday unless management is willing to tell a client no.

I have an old buddy who is quality control at a factory. He was talking about his job, he meets with their clients, learns all about how his product will be used in a larger product. So he knows if the contract calls for something within .001 of an inch, he knows it really can be .005 off. What I didn't have the heart to ask, what if all the other suppliers think they also have that leeway? Of course he has to, the more exacting standard the more pieces fail the higher the cost. I get why his plant wants all they can get.

I loved a comment Jeremy Clarkson had about an American car, you could hear the plastic components rattling and he said, "that is the sound of 10,000 parts built by the lowest bidder."

I think we see a lot of activity that is cutting (if not bleeding) edge and a huge push to do that as cheap as humanly possible.

 

[mcmurtry66]

Cost-cutting, West below is Boeing's CFO:

“For years, we prioritized the movement of the airplane through the factory over getting it done right, and that’s got to change,” West said. “Once you reduce traveled work, your quality gets better.”

‘A ruthless effort to cut costs’: Boeing’s long fall, and how it might recover - The Daily Chronicle

The intense backlash against Boeing after the near catastrophe aboard an Alaska Airlines 737 Max in January wasn’t a reaction to an isolated manufacturing error but to a yearslong decline of …

www.chronline.com

I doubt mentioning union workers complaining about cost-cutting will mean anything, but they have long complained about Boeing cutting too much.

You don't think the Secret Service feels a need to be in budget? I know stories from long ago that the secret service isn't designed to handle so many protectors. We have so many, with so many public appearances, every 4 years. They aren't going to pay that army the other 3 years for doing nothing.

It sort of reminds me of my IRS days. Trained October-December, worked January to April 16, laid off. Out of about 100 people, 5 were kept. I was #6, missed the points for not having a degree. I suspect the vast majority of the 95 laid off never returned, so the next year it was once again an almost all rookie workforce.

Cloudstrike was stupid. They had a template with 20 variables, they added a 21st. They did not change the testing so it still only tested 20. I don't know what in the workflow was missing.

I know from personal experience that the client often demands the right to change a product almost until the second before it goes live. My protestations that I could not test it for security nor for overhead was not their concern. Crowdstrike did not have that problem, but it happens everyday unless management is willing to tell a client no.

I have an old buddy who is quality control at a factory. He was talking about his job, he meets with their clients, learns all about how his product will be used in a larger product. So he knows if the contract calls for something within .001 of an inch, he knows it really can be .005 off. What I didn't have the heart to ask, what if all the other suppliers think they also have that leeway? Of course he has to, the more exacting standard the more pieces fail the higher the cost. I get why his plant wants all they can get.

I loved a comment Jeremy Clarkson had about an American car, you could hear the plastic components rattling and he said, "that is the sound of 10,000 parts built by the lowest bidder."

I think we see a lot of activity that is cutting (if not bleeding) edge and a huge push to do that as cheap as humanly possible.

Hilarious quote 🤣

 

[Mark Milton]

It isn't our crappy educational system that scares me. It is the greatly improved educational progress of our global competitors, starting with the Chinese.

For example, my nephew's father-in-law set up a scholarship fund at Notre Dame to study nuclear physics some forty years ago. Much to his dismay few Americans applied for the scholarship with many of the applicants being Chinese.

Since then, over the years China has been slowly but surely expanding its own STEM programs to the point where it graduates far more students. Thus when you add the Chinese students taking advantage of opportunities both in the USA and the homeland the numbers are impressive.

Then when you consider that the Chinese are just naturally intelligent the total picture goes well beyond simply declaring our educational system as being a complete failure. The total picture goes to where we stand in terms of the global business market and the military threats both globally and in space.

Funny that you mention that--my oldest son's roommate is an astrophysicist major. We talked about this issue quite a bit and he noted that the typical whitebread engineering student is drawn to astrophyics (rocket propulsion, etc), and auto company engineering. Why? The money.....

It is the only thing I have ever understood from him except when he talks soccer..... Everything else it feels like he is talking to a dunce, which would be true.