The Swiss are considering the idea of UBI, reports Bloomberg Markets:
The country will vote June 5 on whether the government should introduce an unconditional basic income to replace various welfare benefits. Although the initiators of the plan haven’t stipulated how large the payout should be, they’ve suggested the sum of 2,500 francs ($2,500) for an adult and a quarter of that for a child.
It sounds good, but — two things. It would barely get you over the poverty line, typically defined as 60 percent of the national median disposable income, in what’s one of the world’s most expensive countries. More importantly, it’s probably not going to happen anyway. …
The proposal is opposed by the government, which says the stipend would mean higher taxes, create disincentives to work and cause a skills shortage. The economy is already hamstrung by the franc’s strength, with businesses warning they’ll move production to less pricey locations to reduce costs.
And reportedly 60% of the Swiss public oppose it. It’s interesting that the government opposes it because it might create a disincentive to work; I have to wonder how much of that assertion comes from the pessimistic view of humanity brought to the table by the Calvinists, who originated in Switzerland. To my mind, it may not be a view in accordance with reality, since the viewpoint is from a reality that is far out of date, or it may vary from country to country. Zero Hedge reports that the campaign is driven by concerns about robots:
The main argument of the supporters of this initiative is that it would support the people that will, or already do, lose their jobs to automation and technological progress; a defensive move against “the rise of the robots” as they put it. They also claim that such a measure will give people the opportunity to grow, to learn and to pursue skills or professional goals that are now rendered prohibitive by their current meaningless and mundane jobs, that they are forced into in order to simply pay their bills. “What would you do if your income were taken care of?” asked the pro-UBI campaign in Geneva, with a poster that officially made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest.
However, the robots are also in favor of UBI as reported on the blog for Basic Income 2016:
At the World Economic Forum 2016 in Switzerland, the declaration of Davos in support of a Basic Income for everybody was published by “Robots for Basic Income”, a group of robots in favor of the idea of Unconditional Basic Income. The event with a dancing robot came in preparation for a Swiss referendum on the topic that will be held on 5 June 2016. „We – the robots“, the declaration goes, „call for an universal basic income for humans. We want to work for the humans to relieve them from the struggle for income. We are really good in working. But we do not want to take away people’s jobs and thereby bring them into existential difficulties.“
Ethan Jacobs on Inverse reports how it may save liberal democracy:
Enno Schmidt and Daniel Straub, the co-initiators of the UBI initiative and members of the broader Basic Income Earth Network, are helming the push for basic income in Switzerland as the referendum vote nears in June. Advocating his initiative in the face of the Swiss government’s rejection, Schimdt told the Irish Times: “In Europe and the US, democracy is being dismantled. People are deprived of their rights. There is a growing oligarchy. An unconditional basic income gives democracy a fresh breeze, refreshes human rights and empowers people.” He’s also been quick to point out that his country’s top 1% lay claim to over a third of the nation’s wealth.
I do have to wonder at the wisdom of awarding money to children as well. It seems an area ripe for abuse. It’s one of those subjects which is rather out of the jurisdiction of capitalism.
