“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

Sam Walton, Founder of Wal-Mart

Sam Walton lived a life which displayed everything he believed in. Over the years, especially since Wal-Mart became a publicly traded company on the stock market, Sam’s vision and philosophy have slowly been forgotten. Although Wal-Mart may not offer the greatest customer service today, Sam’s words on the importance of customers to any business are timeless.

“There is no alternative” (in the words of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher) to globalization and the primacy of the multinational corporation. According to the defenders of this status quo philosophy-dubbed TINA-there is only one road to economic success: get large multinationals to locate in your local community, and export your goods as widely as possible all across the globe.

Because of their huge scale and international reach, these multinational retailers and manufacturers are seen by TINA proponents as being more efficient and profitable, more able to deliver better prices for their goods, and more able provide jobs in the communities that they are located in. To TINA proponents locally owned small businesses are simply quaint remnants of the past, no longer able to compete in the global economy.

As the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, do consumers ever wonder what happens to their stuff from holidays past? “The Story of Stuff”, a new short film released today online, takes viewers on a provocative tour of our consumer - driven culture - from resource extraction to iPod incineration - exposing the real costs of this use-it and lose-it approach to stuff.

Last year Americans spent $456.2 billion during the holiday season, and this year sales are predicted to rise 4 percent to $474.5 billion. “The Story of Stuff” reveals that holiday consumption is not a seasonal phenomenon, rather an American maxim that has devastating consequences for our environment, third-world nations, working class Americans, personal health and even the general state of happiness in America.