5 ms·

Just to put things in perspective (I'm swiss), 2500CHF is a really low salary in Switzerland. There is another initiative asking for a minimum wage of 4000CHF p

• rmc 13y ago
  Here here. I've travelled through Switzerland, and can confirm that it's really expensive compared to many other countries. I made the mistake once of planning to stay overnight in Switzerland. That was expensive. About €40 to stay in a rural hostel.
  • eplanit 13y ago
    I believe the phrase is "hear, hear".
    • oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
      Both of them are phrases. Everyone understands the, strictly speaking, incorrect one. It's nice to know the origins of the phrase, but when more people use the 'incorrect' variant than the 'correct' one, it becomes 'correct'; that's the nature of language.
      • WCityMike 13y ago
        Under that theory, texting will swiftly become 'correct' English, and I refuse to believe THAT.
        • oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
          Not really; it's a totally different medium. But there's no doubt it will have SOME effect, and - since the context we're talking about is a comment on a website - you surely have no problem with abbreviations, emoticons, etc.
  • Ras_ 13y ago
    Yes, to many other countries. But how about Switzerland's neighbors? 40e for a rural hostel doesn't sound expensive.
• 001sky 13y ago
  The exchange rate that would equalise the price of a Swiss Big Mac with an American one is SFr1.55 to the dollar; the actual exchange rate is only 0.96. [1] == Swiss Franc is most overvalued currency [1] http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/01/daily-chart-3 http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/01/daily-c...
  • lostlogin 13y ago
    I get your point, however is it really true to say that? If it were, people would sell the currency to get out while the going is good wouldn't they? How could it stay consistently over priced?
    • brazzy 13y ago
      People hold CHF as a hedge against inflation and/or government defaults, not as a growth investment.
      • jnbiche 13y ago
        Well, then it's not overvalued, is it? People value it as a hedge, so it's relative value increases.
        • _delirium 13y ago
          In a certain sense it's always true that free-floating currencies are "correctly valued", in the sense that their value is what the market currently is willing to pay. As far as I know, CHF has no exchange restrictions or capital controls, so it's valued at whatever forex traders are willing to pay for it. If anything, the Swiss Central Bank has been trying to intervene on the other side, to bring the price down through monetary policy (due to worries that the high CHF value is hurting exports).
    • 001sky 13y ago
      Actual quote was "Burgernomics shows Switzerland has the most overvalued currency" So, in terms of this limited real-asset convertability, yes it would be true (see footnote above).
• netcan 13y ago
  Is that 4000CHF after tax or before?
  • jre 13y ago
    Before.
    • msvan 13y ago
      Taxing a redistributive payment from the government makes no sense. Why not just pre-calculate how much of it goes to tax and then save everyone the paperwork?
      • jre 13y ago
        4000CHF was regarding the minimum salary, not basic income.
      • troels 13y ago
        I suspect it is exactly to prevent paperwork. Having two different tax-systems, depending on your employment status is going to be a huge mess.
        • dllthomas 13y ago
          A basic income does not depend on your employment status. Your point stands, however - treating every dollar the same can be simpler.
      • tlholaday 13y ago
        Alexandre and Christoph both earn the same amount of money. Alexandre has no employment expenses. Christoph has 1000 SF per year employment expenses. Income is defined as revenue minus expenses. Thus Alexandre will pay more tax than Christoph, because Alexandre has a higher income.
• swissass 13y ago
  Live near the border with France. Buy everything there in EUR. Border is nonexistent for all practical purposes so this is very doable.
  • eli 13y ago
    Don't you still have to go through customs and maybe pay duties since Switzerland is non-EU?
    • arjunnarayan 13y ago
      No, it's Schengen area, so no border checks. You drive across just as you would from Massachusetts to Vermont.
      • Thrymr 13y ago
        My understanding is that that is true for immigration, but not for customs. There are still limits on the amounts that can be imported into Switzerland, even from the EU, without duties [1]. Some products are more restricted, e.g. a limit of 0.5 kg of meat per person per day [2]. Anecdotally, this is rarely enforced, except during summer barbecue season, and customs officials have the authority to stop vehicles within 10 km of the border. [1] http://www.ezv.admin.ch/zollinfo_privat/04342/04343/04344/04571/index.html?lang=en http://www.ezv.admin.ch/zollinfo_privat/04342/04343/04344/04... [2] http://www.ezv.admin.ch/zollinfo_privat/04342/04343/04349/04850/index.html?lang=en&download=NHzLpZeg7t,lnp6I0NTU042l2Z6ln1ad1IZn4Z2qZpnO2Yuq2Z6gpJCDfH5_fWym162epYbg2c_JjKbNoKSn6A-- http://www.ezv.admin.ch/zollinfo_privat/04342/04343/04349/04...
        • tsotha 13y ago
          Without border checkpoints official limits are sort of irrelevant, assuming you don't try to resell what you bought.
          • Thrymr 13y ago
            There are checkpoints, they are (usually) manned and funnel traffic through single lanes, it's just that they rarely actually stop people.
• Rylinks 13y ago
  If you have a basic income, why do you need a minimum wage?
  • gcb1 13y ago
    exactly.
• phunehehe0 13y ago
  Another perspective here, I actually converted that into dollars and realized it's more than my salary (me being in Vietnam). However I quickly came to my senses and comfort myself that prices are different in Switzerland. Thanks for confirming this. Out of curiosity, I wonder if you can use that money to live somewhere cheaper, maybe without letting the government know. If you can, I think that's a problem to solve before this deal can go through.
  • ericd 13y ago
    Meh, you don't have to solve all the corner cases up front. Some small percentage of the population will always try to game systems, sometimes it's just cheaper to deal with it than to try to fix it.
• walshemj 13y ago
  I recall paying 7SF for a coke when skiing 20 years ago