All very true, but still sad because these situations come about because of people trying to control other people in the first place. Production is indeed critical to creating value and the economy, however, we are reaching a point where we are creating way too much waste. Even this is controlled as we struggle to even find an option of purchasing something that has as long a life as we'd like, because companies, unions and the like have colluded to produce limited lifespan products.

You mention buying local (American in your case), which is something I actually agree with because of environmental impact and because western countries also have their own poverty issues to deal with. However, even this is regulated making it hard for people to have little startup businesses which are competitive enough to keep going or aren't so regulated as to put them out of business. At the moment cash exchange for little jobs and trade here and there means that some people can keep their head above water doing things locally, but Australia is planning to be cashless by 2020, likely putting the poor into even tougher situations and giving further monopoly to big businesses.

I'm all for voluntary and free trade, but it's tough to do in an environment that isn't free and when it is done, like you've just said, it can end up being tarred and pulled up as a bad thing. Our best option at the moment if we don't like how a company is paying their producers is to see if we can support a company in the same area who does pay better. That way you're helping to support a better option to hopefully grow and take on more workers. Sadly, there is often not that choice.