Doing more for less

I hate this new era of doing more for less. I am continuously pushed by my employers to do my job for the lowest price possible, they buy more and more equipment but expect me to keep them all going while reducing my budget. I earn less now than I did 5 years ago.
We buy fast food and it is regularly substandard. Employees are pushed to do the quickest rather than the best job. Management employs the least amount of staff they can and works them as hard as they can to create maximum profits. We get angry at these poor plebs who are just trying to keep up while being pushed to the point where they just do a crap job.
A few days ago a bridge in my town had to be resealed, the job was done so badly the seal was stuffed after 4 days and had to be redone. A poor job done by the cheapest company who used the cheapest labour.
And now we have a close friend of mine. She bought a house and it was moved on to her property, the conditions stated the house would be taken apart for moving and then put back together onsite. The house has been reassembled but the state they have left it in is terrible. The employees worked so hard for days on that house but the management turned up and told them to stop and only do the bare minimum required. It is going to cost hundreds for this person to repair the mess they have left it in. This house was not cheap, in fact I suspect it may have been cheaper for her to buy new in the end.
Where does it end? We continue a cycle of doing the most we can for the least we can. It cheapens our lives, not enhances it. The problem is I am stuck in this cycle myself. Forced to buy ever cheaper rubbish because I simply cannot afford quality.
I am wondering where it will end, and how badly it will end.