[gertef]

Yes, that's the lie the corporate execs tell. People lured into a trap would rather live in the trap than die.

It's not impossible, for Apple with $XX Billion in profit hiding in tax shelters, to pay better than subsistence wages to their subcontracted workers (or invest in community resources for the cities where their factories are, or similar).

[simonh]

Wages at Foxconn and similar firms are way above subsistence levels. They're far above mean wages for industrial workers in China too, plus Apple specifically writes pay increments into their contracts with the manufacturers to attract the best workers, which is why workers prefer to work on the Apple lines to the ones for Samsung, Microsoft, etc which have laxer standards and don't pay as well.