I would guess that there are many folks here on XMTS (and many more who are not) who do appreciate quality, who do appreciate the time and skill invested in a particular item, and who would love to own said item, but, because of mortgages and job losses and children's expenses and other limitations, cannot buy the hand-made item and so resort to the mass-produced one. I'm speaking of myself, for one. I'd love to have a hand-forged sgian dubh with a carved wooden handle, but right now my sporran is kind of empty, so I'll make do with the cheap plastic-handled one I bought online. I keep drifting back to L & M Highland's website and lusting after a certain sporran they make, but I can't afford the price tag, so I'll keep wearing the one Tom made me (which is a beautiful work of art that I'm proud to own and wear), and my "Davey Crockett" coonskin.
Two days ago I got a call from a lady wanting a birthday cake. Today. It was to be in a shape and form which I can't discuss on a forum such as this, if you get my drift. In other words, she couldn't get it at the grocery store. Plus, I was going to have to drive 40 miles round trip to deliver it, and work at least half a day to make it. When I told her the price ($40), she told me she couldn't afford it. I don't know what she wound up doing about it, but clearly she had no idea about the cost of a from-scratch, custom birthday cake. Or she's in the same boat as many of the rest of us. My wife and I made our own wedding cake because we had the skill but not the $.

And another thing...
Matt and DWFII hit the hobnail on the head. If young people don't know the value of stuff, or don't know how to do this or that, is it not incumbent upon those of us who do know these things to teach them? That usually involves turning off the television and taking them to a studio or workshop or forge and learning just what it takes to make something. When I knit a pair of hose (or anything else, for that matter) it's not as dramatic as watching a potter or glassblower, but it shows how much time and concentration is needed to follow a pattern and make something wearable.

If you can afford the hand-made item, buy it. Like, for instance, a pair of hand-knit hose, from a certain long-winded member. Many of us would like to be able to afford hand-made things, but we can't. It doesn't necessarily mean we don't appreciate quality.
And yes, I bake my own bread, and I've harvested 375 cucumbers from my garden this summer.