[quote]This year alone there have been two nationwide referendums on executive pay, one of which approved strict limits on bonuses and banned golden handshakes. Now two more votes are on the way, the first on the introduction of a minimum wage, and the second, and most controversial, on a guaranteed basic income for all legal residents, whether they work or not. The anger among many Swiss voters at the news that some of their biggest banks, such as UBS, had continued paying top executives huge bonuses while also reporting huge losses, has led to a heated debate about salaries, and more widely, about fairness. Swiss business leaders have reacted with dismay, one calling it a "happy land" proposal, the product of a younger generation that has never experienced a major economic recession or widespread unemployment. Many have also suggested it could provide a major disincentive to working at all, something that could pose problems for Swiss companies already finding it hard to recruit skilled workers. Mr Schmidt denies this, saying the proposed amount for Switzerland, 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,800; £1,750) a month is scarcely enough to survive on, and that anyway a society in which people work only because they have to have money is "no better than slavery". "I have a daughter," he says, "and so of course I am there for my daughter, I look after her." "But it is also a struggle - I have to work, so we can live. "I think with a basic income I would still have to work, but I could… maybe [also] say, 'OK let's spend a week with my daughter.'" So how much exactly would such a scheme cost? No-one is offering precise figures, although there is surprisingly little debate about whether Switzerland could afford it - the consensus seems to be that, financially, the scheme would be doable.[/quote] I think this would be a fantastic step forward for all countries, financially it's 100% possible to do for most countries. It's something I feel the USA and Europe could easily do if they got their act together and stopped allowing major corporations to have massive bonuses while firing people left and right.