I prefer frequenting chain businesses over local ones

I just don't understand where the idea that local/small = better comes from.

1. If a particular store or restaurant is good then why do they have only one or two locations rather than hundreds? If the chain places were bad, they wouldn't have become so big.

2. If you polled people, the majority would say local is better and you should support small businesses because who would disagree with that? Yet, going back to point #1, if they were really putting their money where their mouth is, the large chains wouldn't be successful. This means most people are lying and are hypocrites.

3. You get a consistent experience every time at the chain. I like to know what I'm getting. Even if it's just average, you can count on it being average every time. I've eaten at a lot of bad local Chinese restaurants, but I've never had a bad experience at Panda or Pew Wei.

4. I may be biased here, but every small business owner I've worked for has been a cheap bastard. With large companies, I've only been treated with respect and decency--fair compensation, 401k plans, good health insurance, nice place work, you name it. Compare this to the small companies where I've been cursed at and berated routinely, underpaid, stolen from, and the just straight up criminal behavior that goes on. This idea that spending your money locally is more ethical has to stop.