BeIR/webis-touche2020 huggingface dataset:
4) The right to benefits comes from obligation

It is true that if the government receives money as in “taxes”, citizens should be entrusting government’s control to use whatever they can do with those taxes; thus, we should enjoy the protection comes in the forms of “police, access to medicine and drinking water, and even the military force”. However, even with paying these taxes, individual should care for how the society and the government do with “our money”. Especially in the case of unemployment benefits systems citizens are explicitly giving specific % of their income just for the case when they are laid off in no fault of their own: being unemployed for more than a year. Again, it seems that proposition is confused how unemployment benefits system works. People that are claiming unemployment benefits are responsible people. They were gainfully employed, full time and responsible people will make sure they have a roof over their heads and food in their kitchens. If given the choice between having their homes seized by the bank and going to Mexico, the obvious choice is to use the money to pay their mortgage. There may be a few people whose intention it is to abuse the system, but the majority of people are only claiming benefits because they have no other choice. People are only given a percentage of their previous income. This cut in income would not allow for frivolities and as such the majority of the money would be used for necessities. Last but not least, regarding the last point, the Washington Post source is very irrelevant to this debate. The article outlines a scandal regarding a republican politician. Moreover, they merely used the first paragraph of the article, but did not bother to read the rest of the article. If they had read the whole article, they would have noticed that the woman backtracked about what she has stated before.
Opposition Summary & Conclusion

Vouchers limit freedom of choice, as conceded by Proposition. Since unemployment benefits are from citizens’ own income, the citizens should be allowed to use it freely. The Proposition’s attack that “The benefit of the society trumps the freedom of individuals, if their actions hurt the welfare of the society while they receive benefits from the society,” lacks explanations on how individuals hurt the society. As foretold, the Plan wouldn’t fix those corrupted people and thus we must focus on highly skilled, incentivised people. Secondly, vouchers worsen the economy. Since small markets don’t have vouchers but high prices, they’d go bankrupt. Then the economy would stagnate, for money circulates in them. Proposition’s attempt to attack this in 3 ways is futile. We explained how the government must focus on local markets, which are undersupported in SQ and vulnerable to recessions. We also explained how supply & demand proves the probable inflation when local businesses go out. Last and foremost, maintaining SQ would boost the economy and reduce unemployment. Free flow of money is a key to secure economy and employment. Therefore, public expenses save small business from bankruptcy. Again, they try to attack this in 3 ways. However, we’re concerned that they don’t understand the SQ. First, we clarified that money circulates in markets stimulating economy while vouchers only benefit a few enterprises. Also, the unemployed people once had paid UI tax so they’ve rights to benefits like anyone else. The claim that unemployed people are predominantly low income used to be true in the past, but not in SQ. Lastly, we stated the impacts on economy when CEOs are forced to serve food in McDonald’s. The Proposition would convert to vouchers after 6 months to limit freedom of choices to force people back to whatever work found, hopefully boosting the economy. However, they’re misunderstanding three things: 1) As reiterated, those we’re focusing on are high-skilled people who need high-skilled jobs. Therefore, there’s no need to pressure them more since they’re desperately finding suitable jobs to develop the economy. Also, please note that unemployment benefits are for those who cannot find jobs or work due to personal circumstances, not by a choice of not working. 2) Their plan is severely flawed as there’s no warrant that 6 months is enough to get a job. Also, this idea is in no way relevant to vouchers. 3) They do concede that “society can make a better use of this money for the whole society,” however do not realise what “a better use” is. To us, the better use is a system that reflects democratic ideologies, as well as benefits the economy. We have so far proven how their Plan is useless, for the time frame is not even substantiated, and how it does more harm than good to SQ economy and society. We rest our case.
How work places are created and economies revived

The main argument that the proposition operates on is the claim that the unemployed population is not motivated to work and therefore, will abuse the system of cash unemployment benefits. However, many of these people, as we have emphasized earlier, are responsible workers that got laid off because entire companies have collapsed in the economic recession. The closure of a business affects from all the way from the top CEOs to unskilled laborers. Many qualified people do want to further their careers and get better jobs. Moreover, the proposition has stated that the money that people will get from unemployment benefits will remove the incentive to take low-paid jobs. This is probable in a sense that high paid skilled workers will be offered the jobs with low wages of unskilled laborers, which is what the opposition is advocating for. However, it is wrong to put highly qualified people into unskilled jobs, when their skills are able to bring economic growth. Also, they have stated that it’s hard to motivate yourself to accept a job offer below your level of expectations. We do not want highly skilled intellectuals to bend down to lower paying jobs that pay less than their original salaries. Educated individual have a valuable place in society because they contribute to the well being of all. We need to make sure that they can sustain themselves until they find skilled jobs again. There are two major impacts that can result with skilled workers taking away the jobs of unskilled laborers. First, society will not benefit as much because the education and intellectual aspects of those skilled workers are going to waste. Second, unskilled laborers will not be able to get those jobs. The proposition has stated that workers in the West demand too much for their level of productivity. However, we do not want an economy that is based on sweatshop labor. We the keep clarifying our point that in today’s economy highly qualified people are unemployed too.
Opposition Introduction with Topicality

Before we can begin, we would like define some significant terms, such as the government, which affects this debate as unemployment rates and benefit systems differ between countries, hindering us from making specific points. We will specify the government as the US government, and by vouchers, government-issued bills/coupons for specific uses. Registering with the state job service and actively seeking work is a requirement to collect unemployment benefits. You must not confuse the social welfare system with unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits do not come from state money, but from the money that the people have been paying as a FUTA tax. Previously, unemployment was not as significant a problem, but due to the recent economic crisis, people who are fully eligible for employment are getting laid off by no fault of their own. People who are willing to work cannot find jobs. Unemployment benefits to go people who desperately need them, not because they do not want to work, but because there are simply no jobs to be had. Millions of people in developed nations today are unemployed. Because of this, countries like Canada and the US provide these people with unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits are when the government collects a certain % of one’s in the event that someone is laid off, the government provides a certain percentage of their previous annual wage. Eligibility requirements for collecting unemployment compensation vary from state to state. In SQ, the unemployment benefits are “creating jobs faster than practically any other program,”[1] according to Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives. This is crucial because in order to reduce unemployment, more jobs are the sole solution, and a healthy economy is the key to more jobs. However, vouchers for human survival necessities are not the way to stimulate an economy or employment. [1]http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/01/pelosi-unemployment-checks-best-way-create-j
Vouchers for Basics of Life would Exacerbate the Economy

Vouchers limit where people can buy their survival necessities because they cannot provide access to a variety of stores. The government will most likely buy vouchers from partner companies, where goods are cheaper. When this happens, only the big corporations in partnership with the government would benefit, leaving the small local markets unsupported, causing more unemployed people, which does more harm than good to the SQ. Since the US government is investing into big corporations, 29 million small local markets would be left unsupported. This would have two effects on the economy. First of all, millions of families owning crashed local businesses would not have money to put back into the markets to stimulate different industries. Therefore, vouchers will make our overall economy fall. These small, local markets are what holds up our economy and are what provides people with money which go back into stimulation of the economy. Vouchers will take out the support for these markets and essentially destroy the overall economy. The second impact is that decrease in small local markets will cause people to rely on to big companies even more. This increasing dependence on large corporations is bad because big corporations are not the nicest folks you meet. The corporations, solely operating for profit, will eventually jack up their prices for their profit. When the prices soar, the people dependent on the companies would have no choice but to adapt to the high prices. Hence, people’s lives would be a monotonous cycle where they work, then spend nearly all of their paychecks on human necessities. This essentially means decrease in quality of life, all because of the issue of vouchers for basics of life skyrocketing the prices, thus putting people on the verge of poverty. Therefore, we don’t see the need for implementing the Proposition plan, as it will certainly do more harm than good to the status quo.
2) More economic incentives to find a job

Our plan will create greater incentives for the unemployed to find a job. This is good for state and society because the unemployed will faster become independent from external support and start working and making their own contributions through taxes. Such effect would lead to smaller unemployment rate in the future. First, the unemployed will have an economic incentive to find a job. All people have different consumption preferences, which means they need different goods to satisfy their needs. Under status quo, the unemployed receive a monetary benefit; as money is a universal means of exchange, people prefer to spend it according to their preferences, not the state's or society's. There are cases when the unemployed sacrifice some of their basic needs for another good - it could be a harmful one, such as drugs, as well as a 'neutral' one, such as an MP3-player. They conclude that spending money on things other than basic needs will be more beneficial for them (i.e. bring them more satisfaction and happiness); they make an economic choice and allocate resources available to them, as any other member of society would do with her salary, scholarship, etc. If our plan was implemented, the unemployed would still be able to sustain their living, but they would be deprived of the opportunity to spend money freely, i.e. on things other than basic needs. In other words, they wouldn't be able to make the same unrestricted economic choice as other members of society. Under status quo, limited amount of money is the only constraint for the unemployed; under our plan, they will also face the limited amount of spending options. Saving money or substituting one good with another wouldn't help them purchase desirable goods; thus, the unemployed will be incentivized to find a job to get rid of this spending option constraint.
response to proposition's counterargument against freedom of choice

The side opposition agrees that the government has the right to intervene when individuals are harming the state of economy. Nevertheless side opposition believes that intervening with the situation in SQ can not only be more detrimental, but also it can act as a violation of human rights and a contradiction to the concept of democracy. We have proved earlier that vouchers are not the best way of dealing with unemployment. In fact, the proposition even said that “the longer the period of unemployment is, the smaller the chances of coming back.” We the opposition agrees with this point. This proves that educated people already have the incentive to get back on their feet because they know that their chance of returning is slim as their unemployment period extends. Yes the vouchers will force people back into jobs, but that is not the right way to solve for the issues in this debate. In fact, it will exacerbate the situation because the high-skilled people who are unemployed would have to find whatever job they can due to vouchers and also to be less shameful. They would even resort to working minimum wage jobs which would lead to more unemployment and a deficit to the healthy economy and the society as proven earlier in the debate. Their plan of using vouchers to take away the freedom of choice concerns side opposition. Freedom of choice is one of the main pillars of democracy and the backbone of human rights. When the government takes this away from people, they are not fulfilling one of their main obligations to their own people. Hence, not only will the proposition’s plan fail, but also it will cost them the trust of the people in their government.
4) The right to benefits comes from obligation

We see unemployment benefit as a social contract. When a person shares a part of his income with the society by giving it to the government in the form of taxes, he also acknowledges that the society can make a better use of this money for the whole society than the individual himself can. Why would an individual care for the society and the good it can do with money? Because the individual enjoys protection of his individuality which stems from being a part of the group. This protection comes in the forms of police, access to medicine and drinking water, and even the military force. Upon agreeing to be a part of the society and share part of income with it, individuals do not only get a right to be protected by the society when they lose their job in order to not be exposed to starvation and lack of shelter. Individuals also get an obligation to use this protection for the purpose the society has intended to. In the case of unemployment benefit it is simple – to get by for until their search for a new job concludes successfully and the person can sustain himself and family on his or her own. However, now more people choose to receive unemployment benefit while not working at all. In their minds the benefit becomes their salary for being unemployed[2], and can be spent on whatever they want, like a holiday trip, while essentially it is not their salary, but society’s protection, which in this case is misused. If an individual misuses the protection awarded to him, the society has the authority to enforce sanctions on him in order to incentivize him to fulfill his obligations. For example, if you burn your own insured house, the insurance company will not pay you anything, despite the large premium you have paid to them over the years. In a likewise fashion the society has a right to establish incentives which benefits the individual and the society in the long run. [2] http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/07/the_let_them_eat_want_ads_cauc.htlm
How work places are created and economies revived

The opposition has built their case on an assumption unemployed are only victims of circumstances and can’t influence the situation. Wrong! Many of these people actually are just not stimulated enough to accept some job offers, because the benefits they receive provide them with the same amount of money as those offers. We can’t force them to accept these jobs if they can prove they are still looking for a job, so they continue to exploit working taxpayers. The opposition thinks the unemployed should just wait until the economy recovers by itself and starts offering wonderful job opportunities they were dreaming of. No one is willing to work for a minimal wage. The difference between receiving the benefits and working for a minimal wage is that the latter is a productive activity bringing benefits to the economy. The government could also use the tax revenue to boost the economy further. This process starts a chain reaction of working, earning, and spending, which revives the economy. The opposition doesn’t understand how work places are created in the economy. It is wrong to say there is no demand for labour. There could be no demand for the labour at the wages the unemployed demand. Companies can earn more by producing goods in other regions where people ask for less, boosting the economy there, for example in the South East Asia. Unemployed here demand too much for their level of productivity, so they are not competitive and are not worth the wages they wish for. Moreover, many of them are simply unskilled. It is easy to sit doing nothing receiving benefits and wining about the state of the economy. It is hard to motivate yourself to accept a job offer below your level of expectations or improve your skills. Those people need additional stimulus from the government to return to the labour market. The longer the unrestricted benefits are available, the longer it will take for the unemployed to find jobs, and revive the economy.
Vouchers for Basics of Life Limits People's Freedom of Choice

There is no such thing as the unlimited freedom of choice, so the question is where we draw the line. The benefit of the society trumps the freedom of individuals, if their actions hurt the welfare of the society while they receive benefits from the society. The unwillingness to return to the job market is a sufficient condition to impose sanctions. The next point about the democratic ideology is ridiculous. The voters gave the government a legitimate mandate to make the best decisions and there is no problem here with the political system. The government is trying to improve the state of the economy to fulfill its obligations. The unemployment benefits isn’t an untouchable resource, they can be changed even under the SQ if it is necessary. The opposition is talking about protecting individuals, we believe the individuals make decisions hurting themselves, and the government is justified to intervene. An average unemployed doesn’t think in about prolonged unemployment and its disastrous effects. An individual that is out of the job market for a long period of time loses the skills necessary to return. The longer the period of unemployment is, the smaller the chances of coming back. [3] Individuals act in an irrational way as they are unable to see the future consequences of their actions. The intervention with the freedom of choice here is no stranger than making people to contribute to their retirement benefits, although some might not want to do it. The government here is able to make better decisions, because it sees the broader picture and thinks about the long run. Sometimes it is hard to motivate ourselves to learn new skills necessary to return to the job market. Also we often find ourselves unwilling to learn at school or go to vaccinate ourselves. The state intervention here is crucial for overcoming that difficulty. [3] http://econpapers.repec.org/scripts/search/search.asp?ft=prolonged+unemployment
1) Aim of unemployment benefits

The proposition does not fully understand what unemployment benefits are, and is confusing it with a system like a welfare system where people are paid for doing nothing. Furthermore, the proposition is confusing this insurance benefit as a ‘rewarding’ system. The unemployment benefit is different from a welfare system and vastly different from a ‘rewarding’ system. Firstly, the unemployment benefit is nothing like a welfare system because a welfare system is giving people who can’t sustain living with the lack wealth because they have been fired, has had no job in the first place, or are drug addicts. On the other hand, unemployment benefit is for people who have been laid off from work because of substantial lack of jobs in the economy. In fact, there are standards the people need to meet before requesting for unemployment benefit such as having worked for a certain number of years, depending on the state in which they live in the US. Secondly, unemployment benefit is not a ‘rewarding system’. It is a system that provides people with funds so they can sustain their lives after being laid off. These people are paid monthly funds because they absolutely need it. They need it because they have no other options or ways to earn money on their own. Thus, this insurance is essentially preventing people from getting their houses repossessed or only eating half a meal per day because they cannot afford it. Moreover, a pension system is very irrelevant to his resolution because it is vastly different from an unemployment benefit, as we have proved and clarified what an unemployment benefit is. Lastly, we'd like to point out that the Proposition is misunderstanding the entire point of unemployment benefits. As they were kind to mention once, one requirement to be eligible to the benefit is to constantly search for jobs. The government only pays benefits to sincere people, and once it has decided that a person's not searching for jobs, it'll stop paying
Maintaining Status Quo would Boost the Economy and Reduce Unemployment Rate

There is a huge gap in the argument of the opposition. They claim that our plan would reduce the stimulus for the economy. We never told the level of benefits would be reduced. The money would simply be given out in the form of vouchers. Anyway, taking into account the situation in which the unemployed person is, the money goes on paying his bills and receiving the basics of life. There is essentially no difference between the government spending this sum of money or an unemployed. There is no “double benefits” in the opposition’s case, because vouchers also stimulate the economy and create the demand. The whole argument is useless. We don’t understand why an unemployed deserves a salary for the job he is not doing. It is false to declare that an unemployed provided himself with a prolonged vacation. Firstly, he uses much of the tax payments within the first few months in which he is free to operate with the money. Secondly, the people receiving the unemployment benefit for a long period are predominantly low income people, who contribute the least part of the state tax revenue. For example, in 2007 in the USA the lowest earning 50 % of the population contributed only 2.89 % of all the income tax.[4] They cannot claim to have the right for unrestricted benefits. There are jobs in the market, but an unemployed person either chooses not to accept it, because it pays too little, or he is not willing to gain the necessary qualifications to become suitable for it. A situation when the society has to support such a person for prolonged time is unacceptable and he cannot claim the right to choose how to spend money. [4] http://www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html"