Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've never understood why people believe/feel that buying land and/or a house is the pinnacle of... something. Sure, it gives the person a feeling of control and stability. But rooting oneself in one labor market (vs. being mobile) decreases one's employment options and therefore their salary. It's also very risky, as it's the equivalent of putting one's eggs in one basket and leaves their financial wellbeing in the…
The American Dream was narrated by banks in the USA as a way of fighting "the Red terra" and to make the populace wear the yolk of a mortgage. People with mortgages generally don't protest or strike. As American hegemony spun the globe so did the "own your acres".
Basic income plan clearly rejected by Swiss voters
261–270 of 600 posts
Re: Basic income plan clearly rejected by Swiss voters
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
And on the opposite, I never understood how people can not own a house and waste money on renting for decades. Where market for houses in western countries is very limited due to stupid regulations and every year a few millions of people move to that country causing renting prices to increase by XX% each year. It decreases my financial stability. Losing a job for less than a month is a financial disaster, I still to…
> waste money on renting How is renting wasting money? Are you not living in the unit? You're gaining 100% benefit by paying rent and receiving a roof over your head. You must mean a waste by losing out on building equity? That's a crap shoot in itself. A hot housing market and equity can go into the toilet at anytime due to very irrational market conditions. Look at the housing markets of Las Vegas or Miami for exam…
Do not forget maintenance, insurance & taxes that go along with that monthly nut. People used to always tell me I was throwing my money away on rent(until the "Great Recovery"), but I've never had to pony up thousands of $$$ for a new a/c unit or replacement appliances. As always, YMMV.
Re: Basic income plan clearly rejected by Swiss voters
#263Switzerland is the only country in the world that implements direct democracy. You can really feel the difference to the rest of Europe. Swiss more often than not stand behind decisions made by their government. When talking about their politicians, the Swiss say "WE decided that ..." whereas e.g., Germans say: "THEY decided that ..." If you look for a coding job in Europe, Zurich is a great place to live and is the…
The story of Switzerland's direct democracy is exaggerated. There is no such thing as a complete direct democracy, even if a few individual questions are decided by popular vote.
The only questions you can decide by referendum is things that either have no budgetary consequences or things that set a long term political direction (join the EU, basic income, ...).
Anything that has a shorter horizon needs to be tightly coupled to the budget and you can only adopt a complete budget, not decide on individual questions. Once you accept that you only choose between budgetA and budgetB for the next year/term - you also accept that those who write those budgets as propositions are "parties" and you have arrived at parliamentary, not direct, democracy. Most democracies already have referendums on things like this, but still aren't "direct democracies".
In short - the Swiss have just slightly more referendums than the rest, but they too have a parliament with parties that propose complete, coherent budgets. I like the idea of slightly more referendums but no country that has a budget with thousands of expenses and thousands of different taxes could be governed only direct votes on each of them (perhaps most importantly because no one is interested in voting on thousands of issues).
Re: Basic income plan clearly rejected by Swiss voters
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe if they had money to spend, then they wouldn't be "unwashed" and in fact thus be part of an ever increasing economy. Unfortunately that would require an understanding of how an economy works, rather than a zero-sum mindset and collectivist hate of seeing "other" people have money who "don't deserve it" because their "birth coordinates were wrong", even if you were to receive exactly the same. Talk about self-de…
There is something to be said for having been born (and as a result, raised) in a post-Enlightenment society. Migrants from pre-Englightenment societies almost always raise the general crime levels, take value that they didn't earn, and become the new underclass. Look at Irish and Italian immigrants in the US in the 1800s. We came from countries that did not have the same level of education, without the history of li…
I have seen a lot of tossed-off racism on HN before, but this is the first time I've ever seen it deployed against the Irish.
Re: Basic income plan clearly rejected by Swiss voters
#265Coming from Switzerland, this is not at all surprising. No one expected this initiative to pass. It was really more of an attempt to get a conversation started, and it's succeeded in that. As a (tentative) supporter of basic income, I'm already quite happy that something like a fifth to a quarter of voters went for it.
Question, how does Switzerland avoid becoming more polarized country with so many referendum questions each year? Do you think there is a risk passing a referendum resolution that passed just by a small margin? I have been thinking about this since the result of Austrian presidental elections, and how more polarized the politics in Europe is becoming, while trying to figure out if there is a way how to move politics…
Question, how does Switzerland avoid becoming more polarized country with so many referendum questions each year?
In the US, many vilify their political opponents as crazy and/or morally inferior. This has happened around referendums. We also try to get civic organizations to adopt politicized codes of conduct and have politicized social media campaigns to kick people out of civic organizations. I hope Switzerland doesn't have those horrors.
Re: Basic income plan clearly rejected by Swiss voters
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
Buying a house with land in a city is a very american thing – which is why the focus on a small condo is a lot more realistic. Imagine a city with everyone living in a small house with land, it’d be impossible to live in, as the distances would be far too large.
Los Angeles used to be approximately like that. We're still emerging from that kind of pattern and distribution. I think, taken as a whole, the greater LA area is still sort of like that. Some people think it is impossible to live in.
I'm pretty sure LA is still a sprawl and density has increased very little. Even in Santa Monica, and the rest of beach areas, there are plenty of single family homes. Not sure if they make up the majority of residential land, but sure feels that way.
Re: Basic income plan clearly rejected by Swiss voters
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm the one that downvoted you. Rather than simply insulting s3nnyy, pull out some numbers to justify your statement. I suspect s3nnyy is not hiding information, but rather saying the quality of life is worth it. However, it looks like the numbers are pretty comparable. In Germany a software engineer will average 47,500[0] euros a year. judging by this answer[1] I'm guessing your take home is going to be about 28,000…
One notable thing here is that even if the proportions are the same, in the end the absolute amount of money you are putting in your savings every month is higher. Or, in other words, if you're going in vacation in a less expensive country, your purchasing power is doubled. 96,500CHF is also a fairly conservative estimate. If you work at e.g. Google, you can reasonably expect twice that amount after 2-3 years working…
The vast majority of software developers in Switzerland will never, ever make 190'000 CHF a year.
Re: Basic income plan clearly rejected by Swiss voters
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're voting for asylum reform, but against UBI. What's the point? In a generation, they'll have UBI.
What does the asylum reform say about the UBI? I don't see how you get from one to the other?
The types of immigrants they're looking to bring in with reform aren't trying only to escape war, but looking for a free leg-up. i.e. Syrian war refugees going to Germany instead of any of the countries along the way that aren't experiencing war.
They'll be sure to vote established people's money for themselves.
Re: Basic income plan clearly rejected by Swiss voters
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
> waste money on renting How is renting wasting money? Are you not living in the unit? You're gaining 100% benefit by paying rent and receiving a roof over your head. You must mean a waste by losing out on building equity? That's a crap shoot in itself. A hot housing market and equity can go into the toilet at anytime due to very irrational market conditions. Look at the housing markets of Las Vegas or Miami for exam…
It's very simple actually. Consider, for brevity, a mortgage where the monthly or yearly payment, including taxes, is equal to the rent you would be paying for the same place. Then live in the place and go about your life for several years, until the mortgage is paid for. Option 1, you took the mortgage. Now you own a house and you are not due any more payments. You can keep living there and use the excess income for…
The difference in costs are several factors between rent & mortgage+taxes+insurance+maintenance+appliances.
I have better places for moneys(some investment, some wasteful) and I get to move whenever I please... although, I have had to move when it didn't please me, too.
Re: Basic income plan clearly rejected by Swiss voters
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
> waste money on renting How is renting wasting money? Are you not living in the unit? You're gaining 100% benefit by paying rent and receiving a roof over your head. You must mean a waste by losing out on building equity? That's a crap shoot in itself. A hot housing market and equity can go into the toilet at anytime due to very irrational market conditions. Look at the housing markets of Las Vegas or Miami for exam…
It's very simple actually. Consider, for brevity, a mortgage where the monthly or yearly payment, including taxes, is equal to the rent you would be paying for the same place. Then live in the place and go about your life for several years, until the mortgage is paid for. Option 1, you took the mortgage. Now you own a house and you are not due any more payments. You can keep living there and use the excess income for…
You do incur a lot more costs as a property owner than as a renter, which you should bear in mind.
Over the life of your average 20-25 year mortgage you should expect to have to replace numerous appliances, encounter a couple of catastrophic and unexpected issues (leaking roof, etc.), and after 10 years the decor will be outdated and shabby.
To get optimum resale value you will have to sink a lot of time/money into remodelling (the money you will likely recover, but not the time/effort), then you have the stress of trying to sell the place.
You are also bearing the risk of a downturn in the housing market, and could end up in negative equity.
As a renter you have greater flexibility, much greater certainty over your outgoings, etc.