Bernard London

Ending the depression through planned obsolescence, an article from 1932.

Bernard London was a Russian–American real estate broker, mostly known for his 1932 paper Ending the depression through planned obsolescence. In this document he stated that the problem of the depression was one of human relationships:

Primarily, this country and other countries are suffering from disturbed human relationships. Factories, warehouses, and fields are still intact and are ready to produce in unlimited quantities, but the urge to go ahead has been paralyzed by a decline in buying power. The existing troubles are man-made, and the remedies must be man-conceived and man- executed.

The solution to this problem would be planning the Obsolescence of the products so new products should be acquired to replace them, therefore stimulating the economy.

Briefly stated, the essence of my plan for accomplishing these much-to-be-desired-ends is to chart the obsolesce of capital and consumption goods at the time of their production

This would not be a "one time" solution, but a continuous policy that would also generate income for governments. However, during periods of employment the 'life' of goods could be extended:

Wouldn't it be profitable to spend a sum of—say—two billion dollars to buy up, immediately, obsolete and useless buildings, machinery, automobiles and other outworn junk, and in their place create from twenty to thirty billion dollars worth of work in the construction field and in the factory? Such a process would put the entire country on the road to recovery and eventually would restore normal employment and business prosperity

Bibliography

• Slade, Giles (2009). Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674043756.
• Bernard London, ou la planification de l'obsolescence à des fins sociales. Latouche, Serge. 2003 ISBN 978-2-36509-006-3