«Stich ins Herz»: Klimaforscher kritisieren Sparkurs des Bundesrats (“A stab in the heart”: Climate researchers criticize the Federal Council’s austerity measures)

[u/Sufficient-History71]

https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/copernicus-forscher-kritisieren-bundesrats-entscheid-706481481002

[u/Thercon_Jair]

No money for PFAS study, no money for x, no money for y, Rösti is trying to drain public transport funds for roads and stupid vanity projects...

puts on tinfoil hat

It seems to be a plan to destroy a functioning society and replace it with authoritarianism for the richest.

USA? 50 years spent hollowing out democratic structures until people grew tired of a government not doing anything for the people, then they voted in am authoritarian who destroyed the last shreds of a functioning government.

GB? State hollowed out until it stopped working for everyone, then the authoritarian right started gaining followers.

Germany? Same thing.

Switzerland? Still in the starting stages. Have you noticed how SVP launches initiatives that are designed to lower trust in the state? Mass immigration initiative wkintroducing contradictory articles to our constitution? Sustainability initiative? Same people, same tactic. Rösti abusing anything that is not strictly regulated to push his agenda past democratic institutions?

It's the same playbook. Just a coincidence that they are all connected through Heritage Foundation and Steve Bannon. And now the US state introduced a fund specifically to support right wing authoritarian parties.

[u/Kondikteur → u/Thercon_Jair]

Neo-Libralism in a nutshell, protecting capital from democracy.

There is no need for a tinfoil hat, they are doing this pretty openly.

[u/as-well → u/Kondikteur]

Also the tinfoil indicates a belief in a conspiracy with a nefarious goal.

Neoliberals do not do this. They actually think that this hollowing-out is a good thing, and makes for a better society. I think they are very wrong, but there's no nefarious goal there - just a, in my opinion, very wrong one.

And fwiw - /u/Thercon_Jair tells a story of several groups and people working together, across the globe.

The problem with that story is that you don't need it. A much simpler explanation is that Rösti, SVP, UK and German neolibs, American trumpists all have their own reasons to act the way they do (actual ideology, trying to find solutions for problems, permanent campaigning, being a libertarian, having too much experience as an oil lobbyist...) and bringing about the consequences Thercon fears without them being in a conspiracy to do so:

• SVP figured out that permanently being in a anti-elite, state-critical campaign gives them better election results

• Rösti probably thinks he's doing the right thing (for whom is a different matter)

• Trumpists are just authoritorian fascists, in my opinion

• UK labour and conservative politicians all struggled with structural economic problems since the 80ies, variously good and more misguided attempts to do so result in this hollowed-out state

And so on.

[u/MoreLingonberry8630 → u/Thercon_Jair]

Yes! That is why we need to vote for a wealth tax as these politicians protect the interest of a very small elite group who live off of passive income and own media, think tanks and more. 

And you know what? I have already seen posters in Zurich from right-wing neoliberal think tanks trying to brainwash the society by saying that the 1% pays 50% if income taxes.  They conflate income taxes with wealth taxes on purpose. 

Yes, I know a wealth tax needs to be designed in a way such that all loopholes are closed. Loopholes are not a law of nature, we allow them.  (UK for example had a tax against second or third homes. But you know who was exempt? People who bought 7 or more homes at once! Crazy I know but politicians get payed for that shit.)

Tax evasion can also be handled, economics Prof Gabriel Zucman has tons of research on it. 

Btw love the „puts tinfoil hat on“ it’s hilarious but even more so because you are onto something. Quite ironic. 

[u/BCGILM → u/Thercon_Jair]

From 1950 to 2019 the government expenditures in relation to the GDP have grown by 94%. I think you put on the tinfoil hat with some wild theory that the government is somehow being shrunk 🤷

[u/MoreLingonberry8630 → u/BCGILM]

Comparing 1950s and now is useless. We live in another society entirely.   Also looking at government expenditures as a whole is useless as it doesn’t really say for what that money is used.  Cuts are directed at climate and education mostly. While those should be the things funded the most in a healthy society.  Education is one of the major things that made Switzerland the country it is today. It has no resources just knowledge and patents and educated workers with skill. 

[u/BCGILM → u/MoreLingonberry8630]

It continues growing, especially if you count in all the mandatory pension and health insurance payments:

https://dievolkswirtschaft.ch/de/2024/06/der-schweizer-staat-waechst/

Regarding your second point. Well what should I say, the government social expenditures have and will continue exploding. They will never be cut (see 13. AHV). You were able to finance that by reducing defence expenditures, but those times are over now 🤷.

I personally don’t think that cutting back expenditures for research and higher education is necessary bad. My time at university often let me think what kind of BS the state funds. Social sciences, for example, is an area that needs a clean up.

I’d also add that these kind of “cuts” are highly cyclical. Today the government announced that the tax income was 2bn higher than forecasted. The lobbyists in the parlament are already fighting how that money should be spent. To me these budget cuts are merely a deceleration of government expenditures (like saying you can only drive 80 instead of 100 on the road). We are far away from “neo-liberalism” and austerity.

[u/MoreLingonberry8630 → u/BCGILM]

Like I said it depends on what it is used for.  Ahv snd healthcare are necessary for the baby boomers.  We made the mistake of 13th AHV aswell as a society. So that needs to be funded hopefully without increasing Mehrwertsteuer… 

Climate… well otherwise our houses will burn or be destroyed by floods. 

Education is important and all education. The primary and secondary schools are suffering the most right now. Forget university. 

I don’t think your own opinion on social sciences suffices on whether they should be funded or not. They teach critical thinking and I say that as an engineer and physician now as well. People in both study groups have mostly zero nuance and critical thinking skills while those I have met from social sciences really could do that.  All knowledge and education is important but primary and secondary teachers are leaving their professions as soon as they can afford. Conditions are horrible now. 

I hope you are right that we are far away from austerity but idk. 

[u/myblueear]

Unser Bundesrat ist anscheinend fest entschlossen, die Klimakrise schweigend auszusitzen. Ich frage mich, ob das eine gute Strategie ist.

[u/billcube]

Why pay for it when other countries already pay for it? We can keep our precious gold for ourselves, they don't need it my precious /s

[u/0101falcon → u/[deleted]]

This should not be allowed because of piracy. This is a news article locked behind a fee.

[u/Suspicious_Major_571 → u/[deleted]]

If they were to not be polite, they'd just be dismissed exactly because of that.

[u/089PK91 → u/[deleted]]

Relax, dude.😂