Why the Swiss voted 'No' to a guaranteed basic income

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Yahoo News:

Almost 80 percent of Swiss voters rejected a guaranteed monthly income Sunday.

 

Under the proposal, Swiss adults would receive a government check of 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,563) each month, and children under the age of 18 would receive a check worth 625 francs. Although the proposal had almost no political support, it gathered more than 100,000 signatures, so it was put to a public vote under Switzerland’s popular initiative political system.

 

A the idea of providing a basic income guarantee, or BIG, has held currency on the political left for decades. More recently, some libertarians have also embraced the idea, seeing it as a cheaper, more efficient alternative to the current welfare state.

 

“Wouldn’t it be better just to scrap the whole system and write the poor a check?” Matt Zwolinski, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of San Diego, writes in an essay for the Cato Institute. “Unlike other welfare programs which encourage or require recipients to consume certain specific kinds of good – such as medical care, housing, or food – a BIG simply gives people cash, and leaves them free to spend it, or save it, in whatever way they choose.”

 

Proponents also say a BIG would ensure a passionate workforce, innovation, and suitable working conditions.

 

“An entrepreneur can now be sure that people will come to her because they actually want to work with her. Motivation will become a prerequisite for a job application,” write Enno Schmidt and Che Wagner, co-designers of the Swiss referendum initiative for an unconditional basic income, on their site Basic Income 2016. “The applicant can also say no to unappealing job offers more easily. The threat of taking away a person’s livelihood can no longer be used as a means to force employees to work under bad conditions.”

 

But the majority of Switzerland doesn’t buy this argument and are instead wary of the idea, believing it would cripple the Swiss economy by eliminating all motivation to work.

 

“If you pay people to do nothing, they will do nothing,” Charles Wyplosz, an economics professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told AFP.

________

 

Switzerland-an island of sanity in the EU...