Monday, October 7, 2013

Basic income in Swiss: A challenge?

I heard that Switzerland will consider about the introduction of a basic income (BI).
According to this article, a grassroots committee submitted more than 100,000 signatures to call for discussion.

Will the Swiss vote in a guaranteed annual income?

BI is a unique solution for an insurance of national welfare. If introduced, ever person belongs to the nation can receive a certain amount of money from the nation regardless of his condition. It will make the citizens happy and safe to live.

BI has some advantages compared to other traditional welfare policies. I think that simplicity is one of the most beneficial factors of BI. People need not be afraid to fail receiving BI. The government cannot examine the estate of citizens to certify their financial state. It will reduce cost of administration.

Of course I cannot believe that BI solves the problem of poverty completely. Some people such as disabled need more intensive help. Some people are likely to be tricked to lose their money.

On the other hand, I am not afraid that people would not be willing to work. Human feel bored when there is nothing to do. Most of them dare to work for earning more money and contributing to the society. I believe the curiosity of human beings.

Anyway, this proposal in Swiss is hardly to be realized. The activists insist that they should receive $2,800 in a month. It is obviously too high, even if Swiss has the highest commodity price in the world. The very worst barrier to BI is a source of revenue. No matter how effective we establish a new scheme, BI costs a large amount of money compared to other welfare systems. Actually, there are many comments on this website, of which some refer to the setting of price.

Although I think BI is a nice scheme, it seems to be quite difficult to start.

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