You Know You Are In Trouble...

 ... when this kind of news begins to make headlines around the world. 

Several high-profile candidates have turned down the chance to become Boeing's (NYSE:BA) CEO, including GE Aerospace (GE) CEO Larry Culp, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, complicating the company's search for a new leader to succeed Dave Calhoun, who has said he plans to spend by year-end. Two other potential CEO candidates, Boeing (BA) COO Stephanie Pope and Spirit Aerosystems (SPR) CEO Pat Shanahan, face complications on their path to the top job, while Boeing director and current Carrier Global (CARR) CEO David Gitlin also declined to become a candidate, according to the report.

That tells you something. It is, indeed, criminal and atrocious what has been done to once great commercial aerospace company, that what once would have been considered a stellar position, a position to be proud of and heralding one's engineering and managerial achievement, has become toxic and nobody wants to take it. Even considering immense financial and other corporate rewards.  

Sadly, Boeing's problems do not stop just with the search for a new CEO:

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft was set to mark its crowning achievement this month: Ferrying two NASA astronauts on a round trip to the International Space Station, proving the long-delayed and over-budget capsule is up for the task. Starliner is halfway to that goal. But the two veteran astronauts piloting this test flight are now in a tentative position — extending their stay aboard the space station for a second time while engineers on the ground scramble to learn more about issues that plagued the first leg of their journey. 

Obviously, Starliner is a brand new capsule, but, boy, evidently the leaks are serious and under these circumstances it is right decision to keep astronauts on ISS for now. Do we see Soyuz in the nearest future if issues will not be resolved? One cannot exclude such a situation. For the most part astronauts and cosmonauts are a friendly bunch, with the exception of Senator Mark Kelly whose badmouthing Russians is a sign of his inferiority complex, and they do come to help each-other if need be. So, let's keep fingers crossed. Will Musk enter the equation? I cannot even conceive what these two astronauts feel now, especially if they will be cleared to fly Starliner back to Earth. But Boeing is a reflection of the overall state of the United States today.