The problem with the 737-Max is it's primarily not controlled by computers and wires, except in certain circumstances when it suddenly is - a situation for which the pilots received a 20 minute training video on their iPads.
Aircraft like all Airbus, newer Boeing aircraft, and fighter planes before them, are all computer and wire controlled - and perform just fine. Air France 447 would have been a normal flight without pilots onboard and the ability to re-enter autopilot mode. The flight was crashed by human pilots.
In this regard the 737-Max reminds me of the problem-prone Lockheed Electra-jet of my childhood, which my McDonnell Douglas Uncle warned us away from. Jet engines combined with propellers to reassure passengers who were not yet comfortable with jets. The maintenance problems of two planes wrapped into one - creating a horde of new additional problems.
The Comet, being the first pressurized cabin, highlighted metal fatigue as a problem which became a frequent and regular maintained issue, as compared with a known abstract concept.
We've run out of other people's Social Security taxes needed to subsidize our low income tax rates.
