A brilliant investigation into the true cost of our bargain economy — and the end of consumerism as we know it

Ours is the age of discount: we want more, cheaper, better. But the result is low wages, urban blight, environmental damage, labour abuses, a cookie-cutter model of progress, and now an international economic crisis. With an eye for documentary storytelling and investigative detail, Gordon Laird traces the bargain from its humble dollar-store origins to its place as global juggernaut. From Alberta’s tar sands to China’s factories, from Las Vegas to the Arctic Circle, a single question emerges: how will we survive the bargain?

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A Globe and Mail Notable Book
 
“In a masterful blend of facts and metaphors, Laird tells a story of bargain retailing that is interesting in its own right. . . . evocative . . . Laird lays bare the cost of those bargains in compelling detail.” 
— Globe and Mail
 
“Gordon Laird is a reporter of rare skill and extraordinary thoughtfulness, and he has fixed his keen eye on one of the most crucial questions of this young, tumultuous century: the true cost of things.”
— Chris Turner, author of The Geography of Hope
 
“Gritty and entertaining . . .”
— Andrew Nikiforuk, author of Tar Sands
 
“An alarm call, but not alarmist.”
— Kirkus Reviews
 
"In grab-you-by-the-lapels stories, Laird tells you the real cost of your got-it-for-nothing storegasm."
— Greg Palast, investigative journalist and author of the New York Times bestsellers Armed Madhouse and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
 
“Thorough, informed and relevant . . . Neither shrill nor self-absolving, Laird quietly questions where we’ve been and where we’re headed.”
— Halifax Chronicle-Herald
 
“[Laird] plots a direct line from our bargain-hungry hands to disasters such as Alberta’s tar sands, human-rights abuses in China and our hollowed-out economy.”
— Canadian Geographic

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Visit Gordon Laird's website.

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Introduction: Black Friday, 2008
 
 
PART I: LANDSCAPES OF PLENTY
 
Chapter 1: The Bargaineers: Fear and Housewares in Las Vegas
Dollar-Store Nation
The Quest for Cheap
Better than Wal-Mart
Tomorrowland
Under the Casino
The Battle of Las Vegas
Perpetual Bargain Machine
 
Chapter 2: Quantum Cheap: Progress Is Price Destruction
The Fall and Rise of Wal-Mart
The Tyranny of Price
The Fall of the Mall
Progress Is Price Destruction
New Kinds of Change
The Problem of Value
Retail Economy, Survivor Edition
 
 
PART II: OUT OF THE BARGAIN BASEMENT
 
Chapter 3: China Crisis: The End of Cheap Labour
Homecoming
Into the Bargain Machine
Joint Ventures
Mao's Unlucky Heartland
The Fine Balance
How KFC Helped Save the Revolution
The Beginning of the End of Cheap
 
Chapter 4: Container Trade: Cargo Cults of the Twenty-First Century
An Economy on the Docks
City of Containers
The Global Pipeline
The Heart of Los Angeles
Gridlock
Full-Cost Progress
The Hill and the Harbour
 
Chapter 5: All Is Plastic: The Small World of Hydrocarbons
The Wal-Mart of Oil
The Race for Crude
Plastic Is Power
Across the Desert
The River Runs North
The Kingdom
 
Chapter 6: We, the Resource: Journeys to the End of Cheap
Borderlands
The Great Consumer Collapse
Maximum Vegas
Hitting Bottom
Dangerous Goods
No Returns
 
 
PART III: COST OPPORTUNITY
 
Chapter 7: Shock Therapy: Can High Prices Save Us?
Last Discounts, Final Offer
Meet the New Boss
Deglobalization
The Thermodynamics of Cheap
The True Cost of Things
 
Sources
Acknowledgements
Index

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Gordon Laird is the bestselling author of Power and Slumming It at the Rodeo, and the winner of several National Magazine Awards. His writing and commentary have been featured on CNN, National Public Radio, and CBC Radio and Television, and in Mother Jones, Maclean's, and more. He lives in Calgary.

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