About the book: 2005 / What is consumerism - a way of life or a contagious disease? Why do people buy things: because they need them or because the microbe of consumerism that devours them needs them? A group of American journalists and economists created a television show in which they studied the behavior of their compatriots - the most rabid and uncontrollable consumers of our time. Based on this series of programs, a book arose that tells about the mechanisms that drive society into a tailspin of unbridled consumer passion, satisfied at the expense of the rest of humanity.