There are only 2 things that scare me, and one of them is nuclear war. There are also 2 things in the news today that are completely unrelated except for how they are being spun into something they’re not.
First, Boeing. They are a disgrace. Starting with a software “fix” to a design problem that led to the horrific deaths of 346 people. When they realized Airbus was kicking their tail section, they retrofitted old air frames with more fuel-efficient jet engines. Problem was that these engines were larger and needed to be mounted further up on the wings. This caused a potential pitch problem and so to “fix” it they slapped a Band-Aid on it called a Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS); a little packet of software code which leveled the plane in order to avoid a potential stall should the nose pitch up. That’s great except for when it malfunctions a push’s a perfectly level commercial aircraft straight into the ground. It would have been too time consuming to design and build new airplanes while losing precious market share to competitors and too expensive to retrain pilots on the MAX line of aircraft which incorporated MCAS, so they hid it from the FAA. They’ve since had a door blow off in midflight and agreed to pay $2.5 Billion in fines because of trying to defraud the FAA. On June 5th, two astronauts hitched a ride to the ISS in the Boeing built Starliner for what was supposed to a weeklong test flight. They’re still there.. Evidently the same bozo’s that design their airplanes try to build space vehicles. The operative word there is “try”. Starliner was a heap of space junk before it even got there. The initial May 6th launch was nixed after a problem with an oxygen valve on the rocket that launch’s the spacecraft into orbit. Then a “small” helium leak was discovered on Starliner. While docking to the ISS, a thruster issue was discovered.. Five days after docking to the ISS, the small helium leak returned. Today it was announced that Elon Musk may have to go get them. But instead of outright admitting Space X is to the rescue, Boeing floated the following statement to ABC News (as if we’re a bunch of drooling dolts): “Starliner is currently a crewed mission, and we still believe in Starliner’s capability and its flight rationale. If NASA decides to change the mission, we will take the actions necessary to configure Starliner for an uncrewed return.” Bro, your garbage is totally ‘irrational’ and if NASA decides to pull the plug it’s so that your “uncrewed” return is not because you once had a crew that is now dead. Got it. Thanks.
Next up is Warner Bros and their reporting a $9.1B impairment charge. Simply put, the company was overvalued. And who’s to blame…. TV of course! The WSJ called it a “stunning acknowledgment of how the television industry has deteriorated”. Here we go again. People, TV isn’t dying, it’s having babies. It’s a crowded home with all sorts of little buggers jockeying for their own little way to watch in their own little corner of the living room. WBD has CNN which is in the tank. TNT which is roiling from losing the NBA and their Broadcast division which raises distribution fees that are passed on to consumer who then cut the cord causing ad revenue to go down. No one hates TV. They hate the pain in the a** it’s become to watch it. The 3.6 Million Streamers that they added from said cord cutters, doubled streaming revenue but yet they still reported a $10 Billion net loss. Deterioration is a strong word. “Failure” is a synonym and more fitting for the way CFO Gunnar Wiedenfelds chalks this up as a “value shift across business models” that “better aligns with our future outlook”. So TV is so tortuous for advertisers and consumers alike that Media Megaliths are willing to do us all a favor and put off profits while they take a bath today. Got it. Thanks.
Sky liners and Streamers both, in a sense, were bitten by Tech and are now hemorrhaging money as a result of efforts to use it to make more ….. and the red herring’s reek.
