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originally posted by: DeadSeraph
reply to post by onequestion
The interesting thing about this idea is it's potential. Right wingers will point to it and say it's unsustainable and yammer on about welfare and their own wallets and working hard and blah blah blah, but what they will probably miss is what could happen once the dust settles and this system is in place for awhile.
People will gravitate towards ingenuity. In a purely capitalist society, ingenuity doesn't mean much if you don't have the capital to not only turn your ideas into a viable business model, but also to sustain yourself while you further develop those ideas. I honestly believe that a system like this will allow people to naturally gravitate towards societal contributions they are passionate about. There will of course be an adjustment period and people will likely take some time to figure out what they want to do in life or just relax, but eventually they will get tired of sitting around having their rent paid for them and will naturally gravitate towards either increasing their income or (if they are comfortable with their standard of living) finding ways to find fulfillment in other aspects of life, be it through volunteer work or entrepreneurial pursuits.
The funny thing about the natural reaction to this idea from right wingers is that they will criticize it while constantly talking about freedom. Well what happens when you give everyone true freedom? I think the Swiss economy could suffer initially, but will eventually explode. Human ingenuity knows no bounds, and once it is freed and people are able to focus on their natural inclinations instead of how they will put bread in their baskets, we will see another renaissance.
The Swiss are not stupid people and have done extremely well for themselves. Their ideas have not always been conventional but they have largely benefited Swiss society. If anything, this will be an extremely interesting case study of alternative ways of viewing economic growth in about 25 years.