[DigitalSea]

Just like workers in sweatshops and factories in countries like Indonesia and China have a choice to not work for a few dollars per day in dangerous conditions producing textiles for your $200 sneakers and smartphone components for your $1000 iPhone or Android device? The people working in those deplorable conditions are doing so voluntarily, right? Just like the homeless guy digging through the trash on Market St in San Francisco has the choice to not be homeless even though his area is being gentrified and even people on six figure salaries cannot afford to live in a lot of areas of San Francisco. I cannot get on-board with the view that everyone has a choice.

[BurningFrog]

> The people working in those deplorable conditions are doing so voluntarily, right?

They actually are, and if you ask them then can explain why they chose it. These factory jobs are usually very sought after, and has lifted millions from extreme poverty. I suspect you have little idea how harsh third world poverty actually is.

This is a good overview: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15kristof.html?_r=...

> Just like the homeless guy digging through the trash on Market St in San Francisco has the choice to not be homeless

That's very different. He can choose whether to dig for trash, but not directly whether to be homeless. You can choose your actions, but not end results.

He is also fairly likely to be mentally incapable to make rational decisions. Meanwhile, the Asian factory workers you mention are quite capable and responsible adults. As are the vast majority of American Uber drivers.

[stickfigure]

Another great overview is NPR Planet Money's series on how tshirts are made:

http://apps.npr.org/tshirt/

It includes quite a bit about the lives of people working in the garment factories in Bangladesh. Sweatshops are a major step up from the alternatives - especially for women.

[vacri]

Choosing the frying pan instead of the fire isn't much of an argument in favour of 'choosing voluntarily to work at X'.

Besides, having no better options absolutely does not mean that you're not getting shafted.

[BurningFrog]

The frying pan/fire metaphor implies choosing between equally awful options, but the factory work is substantially better than the alternatives.

Of course, to rich westerners like you and me they are both unfathomably awful, but to the people concerned going from living on the streets to a modest bed indoors can be a huge life changing event.