Swiss Vote No to Free Monthly Income for All

B2 – Upper Intermediate

These days it seems that every country has problems regarding its economy, employment rate and social welfare. Swiss nationals made a life-changing decision regarding it’s social welfare policy.

Read the article below and express your opinions about it.

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1606/160608-basic-income.html

Discussion Questions:

1. Why do you think voters rejected the proposal?
2. Is a guaranteed monthly state income a good idea? How happy would you be at getting a $2,500 monthly salary for free?
3. Is it better to give people a salary or give them welfare payments?
4. What’s the best way to deal with income inequality?

1.00 avg. rating (53% score) - 1 vote

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9 replies on “Swiss Vote No to Free Monthly Income for All”

1. The only negative aspect of the proposal you can read on the text is that it would be an incentive to immigrants, I think for this kind of proposals have to give a lot of thought and maybe they didn’t plan it enough.

2. I think it can be good but there are a lot of things to look about, no one would take an employment where you make around the same or less. on the other hand, as the text says, people who is taking care of others like their children, parents or grandparents need money too, in some situations you can not leaver a person alone for the time that a work takes or even pay for someone to take care of them. Even if that was an option.

3. I don’t really know, I suppose having a salary would count as if it was work with the benefits it has but i really don’t know what is the better option.

4. It depends of the type of people you are handling, there are people in need that for one reason or another can not have a job, in that case i think this type of proposals are a good choice. But there is people that will take advantage of this, they could have an age, body and mind to work but if they don’t want to do it they could live for free, that would be a problem for the rest of the population.

Good work writing your answers to your lesson’s discussion questions.

Take a look at how this sentence can be revised:

It depends of the type of people you are handling, there are people in need that for one reason or another can not have a job, in that case i think this type of proposals are a good choice.

It depends on the kind of people we are talking about. There are people, for one reason or another, who cannot get a job and are in need. In this case, I think this type of proposals are a good choice.

Keep practicing your writing to improve more.

Why do you think voters rejected the proposal?

I think voters rejected the proposal because they were afraid about getting a lot of inmigrants to earn this guaranteed basic monthly income.

Is a guaranteed monthly state income a good idea?

In my opinion, this income could help people which don`t earn enough incomes to live quietly. But I think it could be better not to pay to all the citizens. It could be more effective if the money doesn’t go workers and people with enough monthly incomes.

How happy would you be at getting a $2,500 monthly salary for free?

I would be very happy. I could spend my time improving English and playing with my son and my wife.

Is it better to give people a salary or give them welfare payments?

I think it is better to give people a job with a fair wage. It is good for mental health.

What’s the best way to deal with income inequality?

The best way is trying to help people who really need it. Not to help people without problems.

1. Why do you think voters rejected the proposal?
From my point of view, guarantee a basic monthly income from all citizens only should involve several people, not all the society. In fact, almost 77% of voters oppose the plan. I agree on providing a mínimum salary to those who need it or even have a type of work that isn´t paid inful.
2. Is a guaranteed monthly state income a good idea? How happy would you be at getting a $2,500 monthly salary for free?
I don´t think it would be a good idea. Moreover when there are a lot of people that earn much more money than de minimun wage.

3. Is it better to give people a salary or give them welfare payments?
It depends on the case. Probably there will be many people that will prefer a salary, instead welfare payments and vice versa.

4. What’s the best way to deal with income inequality?
For income inequally, it would be neccesary to focus on where the problem is and to identify the people who really need it. At the end, if there is a payment “for nothing” it can be understood as giving money for “free”. So it can be a failure idea in terms of inmigration.

Good going with your writing practice.

Take a look at some minor revisions you can make in these sentences:

For income inequally, it would be neccesary to focus on where the problem is and to identify the people who really need it.

To deal with income inequality, it would be is necessary to focus on where the problem lies and to identify the people who really need it.

At the end, if there is a payment “for nothing” it can be understood as giving money for “free”. So it can be a failure idea in terms of inmigration.

In the end, if there is a payment “for doing nothing”, it can be understood as giving money for “free”. So it can be a bad idea in terms of immigration.

Keep going with this exercise.

I believe voters chose ‘No’ because of fear and also because the ‘inmigration’ process it’s not well defined. If the country has solid boundaries in the Inmigration process, then it wouldn’t be a problem, it is important to say that money has an end so if they have a good plan that explains how the idea is suitable, then it’s all ok. They preferred to keep current Swiss inequity instead of giving the opportunity for changes.
For sure I will be happier if I get 2500$ extra every month, but it’s important to know how much this act could last, I mean if the country ran off of money in three months, it’s not a good idea.
Strongly agree that instead of giving money ‘for free’, it would be much better if citizens have welfare payments.
For income inequity, a good option could be to locate the affected ones and help them personally.

Good job with your answers. Many thanks for your time and efforts!

Look at this sentence and see how you can improve it:

They preferred to keep current Swiss inequity instead of giving the opportunity for changes.

They preferred to keep the current problem with inequality in Switzerland instead of giving way to changes.

Until your next entries!

I suppose they think this measure will represent a benefit for people who don’t deserve it. And as it’s been said at the end, some could think it will increase the inmigration’s demand. I don’t agree.
I think it could be a good idea but not for everyone, the difficulty is to define the limit, who can access to this salary and who don’t.
Welfare payments could be a good idea too, but again the problem is about deciding who have access to them.
First of all is understanding why they don’t have a salary, it’s because they don’t have a job or because they job has no salary (carework at home, etc). Depending on that different measures can be applied (minimum salary, welfare payments, training to obtaining a job, etc)

Good work answering the questions in this lesson.

Take a look at a better way to write this one:

First of all is understanding why they don’t have a salary, it’s because they don’t have a job or because they job has no salary (carework at home, etc).

First of all, it is understandable why they don’t have a salary. It’s because they don’t have a job or because the job that they do such as homecare doesn’t pay.

Keep going with this exercise for further improvements in your writing.

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