“We’re here because we want Boeing to succeed,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the subcommittee’s chair, said at the start of the hearing on Tuesday, pointing to the jobs Boeing provides and the products it supplies to the U.S. military. “It’s not enough for Boeing to shrug its shoulders and say, ‘Mistakes happen.’”
and there's grandstanding performative politics:
Sen. Josh Hawley, accused Calhoun and Boeing of “strip mining” the company by cutting corners and criticized his compensation package of nearly $33 million, up 45% last year from 2022.
“And frankly, sir, I think it’s a travesty that you are still in your job,” Hawley said.
Boeing's taken a turn away from quality and that's not something to let slide when human lives are at stake.
I assume all public panels with elected government officials are just soundbite opportunities for the elected to help advertise themselves in the next election.
It’s a quid pro quo where the accused gets to be paraded out as if they are being punished, without any real punishment, and in exchange the leaders get some visibility, without doing any punishing.
Hence, it is all performative (some better than others, or maybe they are just performing differently due to a demand for a different kind of performance from their constituents).
However, I would still think Blumenthal is an objectively better and professional leader than Cawley.
In the UK, the US, and AU, there are many committee panels with little public interest or attendance that get work done gathering information and putting together reports, summaries and recommendations.
That's a big part of the literal business of government.
There are performing seals that bark for public attention ... and then there are the rest who few can name.
We could say the same about the Senators and Congress people.
All they do is sit around and argue, doing nothing for the US citizens except take $ from the Lobbyists and campaign contributions from large companies (known as bribes elsewhere).
