Translator: Anton Cool
Reviewer: Michele Gianella HF: For those
who don't know about it, can you briefly tell us
what basic income is? ES A basic income is the base
of income for the basic needs, and the thought is: that these basic needs must not be strictly bounded
to some conditions; it's necessary to have it for everybody; and it's much better to give it free as basic, unconditional, for everybody. It does not depend on what you are doing,
how much you are earning, its not dependent
on if you are working or not, employed or not employed,
living alone or living in the community. It's just focused on the individual,
focused on the human being, not circumstances, not functions. And that, I guess, is a necessary basis
for the challenges of work we have, and the challenges
in the world we live in now. HF: You've been very successful
with the media hype, you just recently set the Guinness Book
World Record for the largest poster, you dropped 400,000 Swiss francs
in the square in Bern. E.S.: It' was eight million, to represent
8 million residents in Switzerland, and there was about 50 tons of money. It was a golden mountain, and it was to show
that the money is there. It's not about the money: it's about the unconditional,
it's about abolishing ideologies, and to make a carpet for the people,
a carpet for life, [a symbol] that we can all
[afford to] spend up to this amount. H.F.: My favorite picture from that
is the man vacuuming up the money E.S.: Yes, again, it was not for free. it had to come back to the National Bank. H.F.: Do you have any figures for us
about how many people are for it? E.S.: Yeah. Everybody is for it, in the whole world.
But they don't know it yet. And.. (Laughs) (Applause) H.F. How many people want it? How many people would work? How many people wouldn't.. E.S.: Ah, OK. That is really a question,
and we also wanted to know that, and so we did a survey,
last December in Switzerland. There are many [surveys] in other
countries, and many pilot projects: but the result of this was that two percent of the people will quit their job. So, thanks God, it's good for them, they don't stand in their factory
or in their company, and make something bad. And eight percent will think about it. So at least ten percent
of the people will quit the job, or think about it, and that does not mean
they won't work oo anything. They'll work on other things. And all the rest, 90 percent,
want to continue working. And ask yourself: will I stop working if my
basic needs are taken care of? So, not you yourself,
but it's always the others. More than 50 percent there said
they want to have more time for the children, for families,
for social things. 50 percent of the people said
they want to have more time to study. And 40 percent of the people said they want to have more time
for free working, voluntary work. So there's a demand by everybody
to do something good for others, and that's the reason to work: to have a responsibility,
to do something good for others. And 13 percent said
they want to change their job. 22 percent said, they wanted
to become a freelancer, self-employed. H.F: You mentioned jobs
that people don't want to do. What does this mean
for people doing the dirty work? E.S.: An unconditional basic income? H.F: Yeah. E.S. They can say no. That's the first, and that's brilliant. You see, freedom is not always
about being able to do what you want but [also being able to] know
what you really don't want to do. You cannot be forced to do anything
or everything for money, and that's a brilliant thing. And the question, who cleans the toilets
or who would do this work what especially we both
don't want to do. But the others, you know, it's an old thought
of the time of slavery, the others have to do the work
I don't want to do but it has to be done. So think of it, be a bit creative: You have to pay it better! If this work is necessary
and its valuable, it has to be appreciated. An unconditional basic income creates a huge incentive
to create better work conditions, more appreciation,
more equal "eye-level". And it's not so easily
not to listen to the other, not to be aware,
not to care to the others. But it's a more equal floor. It's an equal flow in society, and that means a lot
by better work conditions and, as I say at least,
why not pay this better? H.F.: This all sounds great. But - everybody I've asked,
they all love the idea, but then they don't know
how it's going to work. So what do you say to the skeptics? E.S.: Yeah, precisely,
what I want to say is you have to start the campaign,
the idea, the discussion. Everybody is invited,
we will create it together. It's not a fixed and finished model
and just a calculation. That's the first point: to believe, to trust
in what we are thinking, and that we can do it. And then it's for me,
related to direct democracy. There's a lack in the world
of the role of democracy: we have to renew it. And then, how does it work
- financially, for example - is that you can imagine, if there's an unconditional
basic floor for everybody, then wages can decrease, about the [basic income's] amount. So wages and all other incomes do no longer have the task
to [fund] livelihood, they no longer have this task
to ensure existence. That's taken over
by an unconditional basic income we give each other. And by this, when wages fall, salaries in the public sector
and the private sector, also social benefits securities
can decrease about this amount. Then costs of labor decrease. Then costs of production decrease. And then for example,
if you have a price for this, I don't know what this is,
maybe three francs? And because of lower costs
in the other incomes, - because they can decrease
about this amount of an unconditional basic income
that everybody has - the cost will fall,
and they fall about what? About that amount that's no longer
included, contained, in the existing incomes. And once this part becomes free, the room it makes
in the former price structure goes to finance
the unconditional basic income, in the same way it finances
today's incomes so you know every income, all incomes
are financed by the prices, and it will become
a proportion in the prices, for the unconditional basic income, and a smaller proportion
for the other existing incomes. That's the principle,
so there are many details: we have a few weeks time
to discuss later. But let's first look at it. H.F.: We've talked about the people,
we've talked about the idea. How does the money feel about this? E.S: The money? Oh, yeah. That's an interesting question,
therefore - I went in a bank, I wanted to know
how does the money feel. Everybody is keen to get money. But nobody is asking
what we are doing with the money, how awful it is for the money to be misused for all
these horrible things. And I think, for me,
even if it sounds funny, freeing the money
is a thing for artists to do, or even for bankers, so creativity and art are in every job. Looking to the money,
doing good with money may sound a bit crazy, but at least, why not? Let's have a look how we create it. You know, we don't know
how we create money and we think that's a miracle,
that's far away. No, it's understandable:
we create money by giving trust and giving the right
to act on initiative to each other. That's the creation of money,
and that means it's not so much a part of the economy, it's much more a democratic right. H.F.: Do you have any closing remarks
you'd like to add before we end? E.S.: Yes, of course, many. (Laughs) We just started a little view
in this ongoing movement. And what I want to say
is that it concerns everybody. It's not the rich
for the poor, not feudalism. It is a new challenge and requirement to rethink things, to be responsible. It's yet another one step
towards more freedom and responsibility as we have had in history every time. It's not new but it is a step in history, and it's as difficult
as it was to understand that we really should abolish slavery, that there is such
an astonishing idea as human rights, and that we do this awful thing
as allow everybody to vote, and to decide, as a society,
to introduce direct democracy. So when you have a look in the past, [at] what our grandfathers
and grandmothers did, you see they fought for what we have. And we have to go a step further on. And it's the same,
like introducing democracy, and the other things I mentioned. To take this risky step to an unconditional
basic income for everybody, to give this trust in society,
and to strengthen civil society, opposed and in partnership
to what's going on in the economy, but in a way, independent. To say, who's at the top of it? We are, the people are, you are. It's all about you, and take this to you. To lead society and not
to be lead by the system. H.F.: Well thank you Enno,
it's been a pleasure. E.S.: It was a pleasure for me.
Thank you. (Applause)
Please remember we are here as a representation of Andrew Yang. Do your part by being kind, respectful, and considerate of the humanity of your fellow users.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
Helpful Links: Policy Page • Media Library • State Subreddits • Donate • YangLinks AI FAQ • Register To Vote Online
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
In the traditional idea of a welfare state. The inherent flaw is that it's not universal, in the sense that it tries to generalise the definition of the word Universal. But the real truth is that, the only thing that could be recognised universal is money(market controlled currency). Rightly labelled - Freedom Dividend.
The biggest experiment in the history of modern world has to undergo one more now. Yang2020!
Yang needs to use this argument. "You expect that everyone over 18 is capable of making the choice of who becomes the president of the greatest country of the world, yet you wouldn't trust him with the money, he/she is owed as a dividend for being a shareholder of this huge enterprise!"