In the U.S., consumer spending on household durables like furniture and appliances has been slowing for a number of months, and manufacturers are cutting back production and laying off workers. At the same time, office and factory automation system producers are doing a booming business. Bracketing for a second the question of to what extent the latter group is producing for sales in overseas markets, doesn't this scenario sound an awful lot like a textbook case of consumer goods mfgs. cutting production costs for fear of slumping markets by means of replacing living with dead labor ? And if so, is the recently anticipated recession just about here ? John Gulick Sociology Graduate Program UC-Santa Cruz
