From what I can figure out they use a National Poverty Line that is defined on a relative poverty basis. It is sort of like saying the 4% of people who have the least money are now classified as "poor" I think but there must be more sense to it than that. Most probably factored around the amount of resources consumed each year by the individual and 4% not being able to afford that on average.

No, social welfare is there to deal with anybody who needs it, be they rich last year, or poor for multiple generations.

While I agree with you 100%, we cannot ignore those people at home.

I think you will find that very few of the truely lazy see something like free education or community building as a getting more for less. I never did and will never propose handouts as a method for solving poverty....NEVER!

Your evidence sucks....sorry.
You have an education system that states that its goal is to "create good employees", not help people think for themselves. You have support for unions that would rather have wages and political power rather than productivity and sustainability and you have a goverment that taxes people into apathy. Those are the reason the whole system fails. The country was more awash with money than most any other nation in history and yet they still seemed to be perfectly capable of thowing it away. It makes me want to weep to see my people, culture and history act in the way they are.

And well we should think about them as well...but then this here is a country that gives more than almost any, so clearly we are already.

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Living it up in Gersau.

Of course poverty is less serious in Switzerland than in many African countries, for example. I don't think it's an either/or decision though and it's certainly worth examining the problems in the society where you live.

And yes, I think the system in Switzerland works brilliantly. We have one of the lowest poverty rates in the world here.

In some countries it's worked out based on the percentage of people under the income of a certain percentage of the median.

Yes, like here but that certain percentage is related to the cost of requirements to live. How exactly they decide exactly what those specifics are that you need to live, I don't know.

i think it is reasonable to have a safety net, but not a subsidised life.

i think the swiss have a good system where you pay in 1% for your own insurance and you get a good level of protection for yourself. after a set time period, you are on your own.

Well, as I understand, you are never on your own....but it is not like the income protection scheme they have. Sorry but I don't know what the specific terms they use here are.

It does mean that you could theoretically life everyone from below the poverty line, because it's a percentage of income, not of the population.

Agreed!

Or another example, france-
Where they offer "RSA" (active solidarity income) to anyone above 25 year old. Which opens to a range of other "freebies" and discourage people to get a job because the "legal lowest income"(1000euros approx) is hardly more than that RSA (600euros approx)-

It also encourages people to come live there to get free money-

Example of very popular scam, people used to declared themselve in france for that RSA, and will work in Switzerland undeclared-


Basically government offers range of free money without proper control or governance on how they distribute- But they don't mind collecting more taxes anytime.

Rich :Those who posts "My salary is going to be 150 K and bonus would be another 50K, "and keep wondering if it would be enough for them to survive
Poor : All those who get annoyed about the salary and bash the "Rich"

Yes, I am assuming you mean lift....yes, you could but then no other country or person would believe you if you said as a country that nobody in the country was poor and struggled.

Yes, but the only solution that I see to this sort of problem is education.

Poor - is writing in this forum on their own...
Rich - appointing someone to write for them in this forum...

What is your definition of Rich and Poor in Switzerland?
Is it matters? What's the meaning of this question?
To test how greedy we are? To test our satisfaction?
Everyone has his/her own definition about what is rich or poor.
So it is a Lame and meaningless question in my opinion.

Thread title:

Two signs of wealth.

1) You can walk round the back of your sofa.

2) You can drive your car in and out again without reversing.

I can actually walk round the back of two sofa's, and if I got a much smaller car I could drive in and out without reversing.

One day, a wealthy family man took his son on a trip to the country so he could have his son see how poor country people were. They stayed one day and one night at the farm of a very humble farm family.
When they got back home the father asked the son, "What did you think of the trip"?
The son replied, "Very nice Dad."
Dad said, "Did you notice how poor they were?"
"Yes".
"So, what did you learn from this trip?"
"I've learned that we have one dog in the house, and they had four. We have a fountain and imported lamps in our garden, they have a stream with no end and the stars in the sky. Our garden goes to the edge of our property, they have the entire horizon as their back yard." At the end of the son's reply the father was speechless and then his son said, "Thank you Dad, for showing me how poor we really are.

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Oh dear, clearly I'm a pauper.

(Sofas are placed strategically under windows, so that the ever-vigilant Hooligan can perch on top to monitor neighborhood comings-and-goings, while The Boys burrow into the cushions and soak up the sun in comfort.)

But why, pray tell, would one even want to walk around the back of a sofa?

That's where all the slimy tennis balls, de-stuffed squeakies, pig's-ears-in-progress and other unmentionables lurk, ready to ambush the unsuspecting human... Walk around a sofa? Nope, not me - there be dragons.

You've never seen Doctor Who, have you?

my idea of rich is being able to wash your clothes when YOU want to, and not when some pucker mouthed busybody residents with sod all else to do all day then nose in other peoples business TELL you you can.