Boeing basically has the American regulators in its pocket, similarly the government too. The whole plane design should never have been approved, but as you say, money talks and it would’ve taken too long and too much money to design a new plane while Airbus got ahead of the market with their new plane. Heads should be rolling and criminal charges should be levied against Boeing. US govt fined VW billions, Boeing will be rewarded with no fine and a continuing relationship with the US government for US Air Force planes and equipment. This is far worse than what happened with VW and will severely damage public trust in Boeing and specifically the 737 Max.