>> A long time ago you could only buy local, between then and now (when
>> there was plenty of choice) everyone has voted with their wallets that
>> they would rather buy the cheaper non-local mass-produced items. Large
>> corporations are simply providing us with what we want. If they thought
>> everyone wanted local items (and were happy to pay a premium), they'd
>> sell local items.
>>
> No, they won't.

They would if there was more profit in it for them. There isn't because 
people aren't willing to pay the extra.

> And, in the last 15 years, the minimum wage has gone up $0, inflation
> has grown by almost the same rate and GDP, and the amount paid, on
> average, to CEOs, and other top people, has increased anywhere from 5,
> to 50 times, in the same time frame. Oh, right, and the number of middle
> wage jobs and halved, while the "minimum wage", and other low end jobs,
> have more than doubled.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/United_States_Income_Distribution_1947-2007.svg

The numbers are a bit hard to read from the graph, but to me it looks 
like both the upper 20% and lower 20% have seen about a factor of 3 
increase between 1950 and today. Not exactly the huge disparity you 
describe.

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