So... I have been around aviation most of my life - and got my pilots license at 18. Studied (but didn't graduate, long story) Aeronautical Engineering at Wichita State (where Boeing used to be, but they spun out Spirit Aerosystems to build airframes, wings etc) and basically yes, Wichita is the Air Capital of the world. Even with Boeing pulling their direct presence out to become a marketing company instead of an actual manufacturing company. (that's a hint, btw)

The biggest issue with the Maxs (from friends who are commercial pilots, and others who are engineers closely related to it) is that these are mostly weak software exacerbated by a (lack of) training issue - the command pilot had less than 500 hours in the plane, and his co-pilot even less - and they overtrusted the controls instead of killing the auto-pilot right away. US pilots have known this issue for a year and have more than once had to compensate for it - but US pilots have a lot more training hours and don't really touch the controls until they have a lot more hours in the type.

Look at the training regimens of the airlines involved. That's the #1 root cause. Look at a poor software issue as the second root cause. This really isn't an airframe or structural issue with the aircraft itself. Just sayin.

All caused by DiVeRSITy ... inclusion delusion obfuscation supercedes expertise

Over 3 Million Ford Pintos were produced that resulted in 180 deaths due to rear-impact-related fuel tank fires (Popular Mechanics). Innovation is not perfect. Development of New Technologies is not perfect. The Humans that Drive Complex Machines carrying hundreds of passengers are not perfect.

The only Perfect Humans are the Politicians that pass Perfect Laws and write Perfect Regulations that Never Harm anyone.

Automobiles kill 2 humans per minute, worldwide, yet we still pump them out. While Politicians are busy describing their Economic Utopias, be sure to ask them about their Perfect Modes of Transportation.

I am under the impression that many parts for Boeing are made in China, I wonder if the problem could be there.....

I'm usually a fan of comercial competition. In this case, Boeing has failed miserably. I think there is some room for blame on the regulators as well. They are supposed to be the checks and balance to ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen.

Most of these bus drivers are very short on good old stick and rudder training. Computers need human decision in the end. They must learn to determine what is happening from the actions and feel of the airc raft. Air France is a case in point.