I think this also reflects that Boeing has moved from being a honorable company where good engineering was the first priority, to a company driven by greedy MBAs and PowerPoint charlatans. Those crazy ways to bypass regulations indicate they were totally pushed by a business plan that did not mind cutting lots of security corners.

It's sad, but I think many corporations, and in general most human organizations, go through this lifecycle.

Obviously, none of this discharges FAA from all the very likely negligences they committed when reviewing the new MAX certification you have explained so well.