Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Containing the social cancer of inequality


                    Proponents of Swiss guaranteed income initiative dump a truck load of money
                    in front of the parliament in Bern to symbolize their cause.

At a conference at the Zurich University of the Arts recently I gave a talk on technological change and the widening gap of inequality in the USA during the past four decades.  In contrast, Max Rheiner, a faculty person there, told me about two referendums coming up for a vote in Switzerland soon.  One of them, the 1:12 initiative, would limit the top salary in any firm to 12 times the lowest worker's salary. (In the USA the prevailing ratio is that CEOs earn about 206 times the average worker's salary.)  Another Swiss ballot issue would install a guaranteed monthly income 2500 Swiss francs per month for "a decent life and to participate in public life."  Max did not know how likely it was that these measures would pass.  

Here's a link to a video on the money dumping prank shown in the photo above.