There was one thing I was trying to find a way to say earlier, both in this thread, and in the thread I made about the economics of low cost airlines. Some of the discussions went into the weeds a bit, but I've found a single phrase to simplify my position:
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
It now looks like a systemic problem at Boeing, not just a maintenance accident.
When I asked how low cost carriers could recoup the cost of a $100 million airplane, people said they don't pay the list price---that they often get them at a steep discount. Well, if a company is selling a $100 million airplane for $50 million---something has to give. Of course there are one-off cases of overproduction and the like, but when a business model constantly pressures ticket prices down, and that pressures aircraft prices down, something has to give.