I'd say all three are part of a feedback loop death spiral. 1. Walmart - always lower prices (people want cheap crap) 2. So...cheap food means scale it up rea

I'd say all three are part of a feedback loop death spiral. 1. Walmart - always lower prices (people want cheap crap) 2. So...cheap food means scale it up really big (agrabusiness) 3. And cheap non-food mean outsourced manufacturing (because people want big salaries to buy lots of cheap crap) ...and perhaps that's where it started, that last bit: People want big salaries (or paychecks, or pay - whatever), so they can buy more stuff (there's also the whole "easy credit" thing - but that's another discussion). They want that stuff cheaper. So businesses searched for ways to make it cheaper: Scale stuff up, have fewer employees (or pay them less), and outsource manufacturing. Classic death spiral. /I know I am over-simplifying things here...