What would your answer be if the government decides to give you a fixed free basic income every month, whether you worked or not? What would your answer have been? Yes! After all you will be paid for doing nothing- who wouldn’t want that? But the Swiss have done exactly opposite of that! They have rejected a proposal of the basic income- an overwhelming number of people- about 77% of the Swiss population went against it, with only 23% for the UBI
Swiss voters have overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to introduce a guaranteed basic income for all. The proposal had called for adults to be paid an unconditional monthly income, whether they worked or not. The supporter’s major argument was that since work was increasingly automated, fewer jobs were available for workers. Although, there was little support among Swiss politicians for the idea and not a single parliamentary party came out in favour. Critics of the measure said that disconnecting the link between work done and money earned would have been bad for society.
Critics have called the initiative “a Marxist dream”, warning of sky-high costs and people quitting their jobs in droves, to the detriment of the economy. “If you pay people to do nothing, they will do nothing,” said Charles Wyplosz, economics professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute.
By: Archa Dave
