Let's put any blame where it is due. Yes, Boeing is at fault but they share the blame for the Max crashes with the FAA. Perhaps right down the middle would be putting it fairly. The FAA has always been a reactive response organization. It's time to move into the 21st century and become proactive with regard to technology that they obviously didn't know enough about. If we are going to allow big business to self certify, or at least certify the data used for approval, then we need a much more powerful watchdog to rein in companies that are more concerned about their shareholders than the public good. For Pete's sake, the FAA embeds personnel at Boeing and other major manufacturers. What the heck were they doing from 8 to 5? Could Boeing employees just walk in an talk to them without repercussions?
Given the history of the 525 and the complexity of fly by wire systems with their non-adaptive algorithms for responses to unusual flight parameters, the " this looks like it'll work , were running up againt our budget" line of reasoning just isn't good enough. For an industry that touts safety, it's still all about the money. Isn't this a lesson learned from before the space shuttle Challenger disaster but sadly illustrated by that event? A design weak spot, warnings from engineers, incomplete burn throughs of the o rings on previous flights, yet it still came to happen. I have to admit I'm a bit of a Luddite. I also believe it to be true that just because you can do something doesn't imply that you should. I'm not even sure what the real benefits of computer controlled FBW are. I'm sure someone can educate me as to why it is so valuable on the list of things that may make aircraft better in some way.