The earliest possible date is 10th June 2018, and the next possible date is 23rd September 2018.
Why isn’t it sooner?
The
government and both houses of parliament as well must give their
recommendations to voters, these recommendations being sent out along
with the voting papers. To achieve this the Initiative is discussed in
various committees to which experts are invited - all of which takes
time. (They may also make suggestions for "counter proposals" to go on
the ballot papers - which has not happened in this case).
What is the outcome of these discussions?
So far these discussions have, as expected, been dominated by “traditionalists” who have focused on what they perceive the possible downsides to be: banks won’t make money anymore from offering current accounts (but Switzerland has negative interest rates so they already don’t make money on current accounts now); the Swiss franc may have a less stable exchange rate (but under the Sovereign Money system there are more degrees of freedom to tackle problems such as exchange rate fluctuations compared with the current system); and Switzerland would be the guinea pig for an unproven system (true in current times, but remember the Sovereign Money system should be compared with the current system which is proven to result in build-ups of unsustainable debts and major financial crises. In earlier times most transactions were carried out using bank notes and coins issued by a national bank i.e. Sovereign Money systems predominated).
Surprisingly there was little discussion on the potential upside of money flowing to the national coffers when new money is brought into circulation – sums likely in the order of billions of Swiss francs.
What is the outcome of these discussions?
So far these discussions have, as expected, been dominated by “traditionalists” who have focused on what they perceive the possible downsides to be: banks won’t make money anymore from offering current accounts (but Switzerland has negative interest rates so they already don’t make money on current accounts now); the Swiss franc may have a less stable exchange rate (but under the Sovereign Money system there are more degrees of freedom to tackle problems such as exchange rate fluctuations compared with the current system); and Switzerland would be the guinea pig for an unproven system (true in current times, but remember the Sovereign Money system should be compared with the current system which is proven to result in build-ups of unsustainable debts and major financial crises. In earlier times most transactions were carried out using bank notes and coins issued by a national bank i.e. Sovereign Money systems predominated).
Surprisingly there was little discussion on the potential upside of money flowing to the national coffers when new money is brought into circulation – sums likely in the order of billions of Swiss francs.
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