Made to Break Analysis Page 83-185

The second part of Made to Break began with Radio transmission. David Sarnoff was the head of RCA and he made his fortune in AM Radio. He envisioned the obsolescence of radio once the television was introduced to the American public and he believed that RCA would make a profit from it either way. This did not work out exactly as planned for him. The obsolescence of radio came from to two inventions. One was a technology that eliminated static and improved the sound quality, and the other replaced vacuum tubes and wire circuitry and transistors. Both of which were out of the control of Sarnoff. Another important person in Radio was Edwin Howard Armstrong who is considered the father of FM radio. Armstrong and his team dedicated themselves to improving radio and they finally developed a reception system that eliminated static and produced a much wider range of sounds than AM radio. FM radio posed a huge threat to AM radio, almost making it obsolete. There was so many more advancements made to radio since then, and in the 50's they even developed a radio that could fit right into your pocket. Although, with these advancements came obsolesce. "Product life spans were no longer left to chance but were created by plan, and it is at this moment (from about 1957 on) that the phrase planned obsolescence acquired the additional meaning of death dating," (113).
When the depression hit, common products became luxury items for Americans since they could no longer afford them. The depression not only affected U.S but also other countries we traded with. Japan had a very hard time since we were no longer importing from them and they could no longer afford raw materials that they needed. This caused much stress between the two counties and many people thought that a war would break out because of it. An even a scarier thought which caused much anxiety was that Atomic technology was being worked on and as Bradley stated, "there is no defense against atomic attack," (149).
In the 50s and 60s, there was increase in automobile and industrial obsolescence. Tailfins were a new invention during this time and they were put on most American cars. Planned obsolescence was often blamed on the automobile industry based on a Teague's Rotarian article. This caused many people to stop buying new automobiles and it caused a small depression in the industry. When asked why people stopped buying cars they stated there reason was due to the fin put on the cars. 
Planned obsolescence continues throughout the history in America and the rest of the world. Without it the consumer industry would not exist. Products need to become obsolete at a certain point so there will always be costumers buying the product at all times. Henry Ford tried to resist planned obsolescence by making his products reliable and long lasting, but eventually he had to give in to the pressures because without the obsolesce of his products he did not have a continual flow of costumers, as other automobile companies did. Planned Obsolescence is entrenched in our culture and our buying habits and without it many industries would cease to exist.