Date: Sat, 27 Apr 1996 19:44:29 -0800
To: marxism-AT-jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU
From: djones-AT-uclink.berkeley.edu (rakesh bhandari)
Subject: Re: productivity


Doug wrote: 

> The irony of using capital expenditures to boost the efficiency of
>>unproductive labor is very deep; are we sharpening the teeth of our own
>>parasites?

On a related topic...there was a good story in the Wall Street Journal
about two weeks ago about how the computer industry is now facing the
threat of overproduction, as firms seem less and less willing to scrap old
information and telecommunications technology for the latest equipment.  

And a couple of years ago, I remember reading an interesting article by
computer expert Charles Ferguson who said that it is easier to automate the
hell out of  information intensive activities of Wall Street than for
example automobile production.  He talked about the insecurity of  all
those college grads who thought they could work in some brokerage firm and
live on easy street.  It was pretty funny to think of so many dreams of so
many dough boys crushed...

Rakesh



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