An Atlantic correspondent evaluates America's penchant for making and buying cheap products while assessing the true economic, political, and psychological costs of such goods, in a report that argues that a focus on low prices is promoting negative practices.

It's a time of change for a small prairie town Buffalo Valley, North Dakota, has a will to survive, to prosper. And the outside world has discovered Buffalo Valley. A large retail conglomerate plans to move in, which would surely destroy the independent businesses...and maybe the town. It's a season of change for Vaughn Kyle Just out of the army, he's looking for a life to live--and waits for his reluctant fiancée to make up her mind. Vaughn decides...

Looks at the effect Wal-Mart stores have on local businesses, their employees' economic status, the rights of women and minorities as Wal-Mart Associates, the lack of environmental responsibility by Wal-Mart starting with corporate headquarters on down, and the exploitation of Chinese and Bangladesh workers. Shows that Wal-Mart has concern for its own profits by heavy in-store security but well-known lack of security in their parking lots which have...

"In 2012, journalist Hugo Meunier went undercover as a Walmart employee for three months in St. Leonard, Quebec, just north of Montreal. In great detail, Meunier charts the daily life of an impoverished Walmart worker, referring to his shifts at the box store giant as "somewhere between the army and Walt Disney." Each shift began with a daily chant before bowing to customer demands and the constant pressure to sell. Meanwhile Meunier and his fellow...