And unfortunately, since I enjoy woodworking, the Walmart chest of drawers is just as functional and often much better value than the finely crafted one. There’s virtue in building something accessible that improves things even if it doesn’t have “fine joinery” so to speak.

Much better value? I disagree. High quality products built by artisans mean you aren’t participating(as much) in globalist, race-to-the-bottom corporate behavior. You know where your dollars are going and mostly what was involved in making it. Not to mention, handcrafted, high quality furniture lasts so much longer too, like multiple lifetimes.

All it takes is placing ethics (physical resource use, living standards of those who make your stuff) higher in your value approximation. I hate spending money on disposable goods with a passion, as a result I value the walmart chest of drawers negatively because owning and using it will make me unhappy.

That's all very well, but the average person does not have the money to spend on well-crafted furniture. At the end of the day, they need somewhere to store their stuff and a cheap chest of drawers does the job. Ethics about buying choices are for people with money and will make zero difference in the grand scheme of things. Maybe that chest of drawers falls apart after 5 years instead of 20, but that's not going to sway a person who just gets by financially.

If you hate globalisation, then maybe that can be tackled with better legislation, improvements in working conditions and standards of living, and other systematic changes. It's not going to be changed by lecturing poor people on the ethics of buying cheap stuff.

Exactly. A relative of mine works for a fine furniture company in the Midwest, they have a production line making high-quality items with traditional joinery and actual hardwood and hardwood veneers. We were shopping for furniture for our house and needed a big dresser, I reached out and their version cost $8,000. That would support American jobs and my relative directly, but $8,000! We ended up with a West Elm one in a similar style for $1,800. A Walmart one with cheap particle board could be had for $800. Even if the Walmart one only lasted 5-years, you could buy 50-years worth for the same price as the US-made one.

Weighing "Value" means you need to consider many dimensions and people have different weights, priorities and abilities to service those dimensions.

At some level, a dresser is just a box for my t-shirts and socks. Similarly a link-shortening website probably doesn't need a typesafe, fully commented code base.