That's an extremely expensive and impractical solution. EDIT: By "impractical" I mean that it doesn't help safety much, but does totally wreck US air travel for several years.

permanently grounding 737 MAX would be tantamount to killing Boeing's commercial aviation products (and possibly the company itself).

Unfortunately, this would have the side effect of destroying America's only viable commercial aviation company - there likely would not be a successor without heavy government bailouts.

I don’t mean to give a free pass to Boeing’s ineptitude but it’s not like people are dying or even injured during these recent failures. Grounding them all permanently would be an overreaction.

What do you imagine is the alternative? Would you prefer people to drive? Because if so that’s a great way to get them killed.

Worst case scenario a hundred or so people might lose their lives, best case scenario there might be a few more of the issues we’ve seen. Someone has probably come to the conclusion that it’s worth taking the gamble and not hurting Boeing unless there’s a more serious incident.

I guess human lives is an "optional extra".

FAA gives Boeing a free pass

Profit doesn't care about legality.