jchamplain - Your argument doesn't make any sense. It's up to the artists to decide on whether or not they want to pick up jobs. If they feel they are getting underpaid then why would they be on freelancer.com or anything else to begin with?
A site like that simply gives them more options. If they're in a 3rd world country for instance, they probably don't have much choice in their local market, whereas on something like freelancer they'd have the globe within their reach. Additionally foreign currency may be worth more to them, due to exchange rates.
It makes perfect sense. People are always more willing to accept lower paying jobs when they are desperate for money. It doesn't seem right to take advantage of that fact. At least not to me. Honest pay for honest work is always the best solution in my opinion.
A site like freelancer.com only gives more options for cheap people hiring cheap labor. The people bidding on jobs don't always get the job they bid for, but they always successfully lower the price of the next artist bidding. Even if the artist gets the job, it's only at a fraction of the pay they originally wanted. Where's the advantage in that? None that I can see.
Whether or not they live in a 3rd world country or that our dollar is worth more is besides the point. They could be earning a decent and fair wage for their work by our standards. Can't we extend that generosity to others, no matter where they are from?
By participating job bidding sites, you're doing more harm than good. You might give an artist a few more dollars than he/she already has, but you're still cheating them, and you're only encouraging a flawed and troubled system.
You can try to justify using sites like freelancer.com all you want. If it makes you feel happy that you saved a little money at the expense of others, and the artist you cheated out of money is happy with the pay, then that's your business. Just don't pretend you are doing anyone any favors. I don't believe you are.