There probably ought to be fewer phd students around, and more research tech jobs. But, I was under the impression that the current glut of grad students was because they were so much cheaper than techs?
It depends on the schools. A graduate student at a UC school is way cheaper than a graduate student at Stanford or Caltech. It also depends on the PhD program, or more to the point, on the course requirements. If a PhD student already has a MSc when he enters the program, he can start doing research right away, and his advisor get a return on his grant money way faster.
I suppose I am too naive to think Ph.D advisors would not treat advisees like a piece of meat.
There's a reason I used to love reading PhD Comics... until I started my own PhD. It used to be fiction, now it's non-fiction (sigh)
The next advisor meeting with him is going to be pretty awkward.