I wonder if sometime ago, in a committee room in Chicago a conversation like this occurred:
"OK fellas, we are having some problems certifying our new jet. Apparently there is this ridiculous certification requirement that stick force must not decrease when approaching the stall. Clearly this situation won't happen in real life but we need a solution to keep the regulators happy. Since no ones ever going to use it and the regulators arn't too sharp these days it doesn't have to be too clever but it REALLY needs to be cheap. We have taken loads of orders for this jet and if we change too many things it will cost money"
Now then BUBBA, whats this MCAS you were thinking of............