Is it good for society that we are driving down costs by moving our purchases to Mega-Stores like Walmart that source their products and services all over the world — and that tend to push their operating costs onto local communities where they can (in terms of demanding lower taxes, encouraging employees to apply for social services, denying many employees decent health insurance)?

Or should we be willing to spend more if it means that the extra money goes into the local economy in the form of higher local wages and payments to farmers and other, less-distant producers?

What do you think?