I mean, why would a company like Facebook even be allowed to know i visited a third party website, when i'm not even a Facebook member?

I have no idea, you should be able to choose who you do business with and know the terms.

But what would happen if you went to the bank to ask for money to buy a house and they had no idea of your credit worthiness? Bad loans, less credit available, less market, less wealth across the board. They get this data from a third party, and every bank has access to it. This information is already collected, you give your permission to access it.

By participating in a modern economy, you implicitly agree to the data collection of your credibility in order to do business, have access to credit. Well you probably explicitly agree and just never read the details. That seems like a very similar system, and that one works okay. Third parties collecting your information, it benefits you (like having free web sites), is kind of creepy, but also creates real societal wealth.