Bernard London

[1] Giles Slade notes that London began writing these essays "at a point of transition in his life — with plenty of time on his hands.

[3][4][5] However, Giles Slade notes that it is unclear whether London invented the phrase "planned obsolescence" himself or if the term "was already circulating in New York's business community.

"[1] In this paper, London advocated "restructuring society around a body of experts whose mandate was to achieve an equilibrium of supply and demand that would eliminate technological unemployment.

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.

However, during periods of employment the 'life' of goods could be extended:[6] 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?