In the last couple of years the US has shown the world that it is a highly segregated country where missteps of rich people largely go unpunished, the administration can be openly corrupt and that conflicts of interest are part of the modus operandi. So what Boeing does is par for the course.
This sort of self-dealing has been going on since the 1940’s, and was just the kind of problem that President Eisenhower alerted us to in his prophetic speech* warning the country about the military-industrial complex:
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
Empires corrupt incentives- you dont have to compete, if your buddy in government can "force" your contract into external markets you own.
This "shield" hides the lack of risk taking away from the general public - after all the buisness seems to boom - meanwhile the actual wealth creators & innovators go soft or go elsewhere.
In the final phase, when there is actual resistance/competition to those shody practices, the thin fassade crumbles inwards, reavling nothing but corruption and accumulated incompetence.
The appearance is certainly there. Whether reality confirms it or not is a different matter.