BeIR/webis-touche2020 huggingface dataset:
5) Why the plan would work

The timeline of the proposition’s plan is much too short. In the US, people can get up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, including extensions. The need for extension and the long time frame of the insurance tells us that the market in SQ is drastically dismal; thus we can conclude that their plan of 6 months of monetary compensation is much too short. Furthermore, the problem is not a lack of people trying for jobs. Because the highly educated people have more incentives to work and potential to serve in tertiary/quaternary sector of economy, it is more efficient to let them work at their places. They even agreed that they “will stimulate people to take a job according to what they deserve." The status quo definitely incentivises unemployed people. If getting back into employment was as easy as 1,2,3, the plan would be acceptable. Furthermore, the proposition is confusing the past with the present. The difference is that in SQ, countries’ investments in education for people are going to waste because these people are not living up to their full potential due to unemployment as a result of a recession. There are natural incentives for educated laid off workers in SQ. Not only do these people need the jobs to pay their higher bills, but also the incentive of pursuing their careers is motivation. The issue of people abusing the system is inevitable; neither plans can completely solve it, but we believe both sides should focus on helping people participate in a healthy economy. The proposition says that enforcing their plan will make people “understand possibilities”; leading unemployed people to fill any open jobs. However, for example, if we force unemployed scientists and CEO’s into low-income jobs, this creates more problems. Not only will the lower class unemployment rate go up due to their replacement with skilled workers, but also the millions spent on education for these people will go to waste when they are merely making coffee.
Latvia Summary

The unemployment benefits are there, because it is necessary to pay bills, while an unemployed gets a new job. But the right for the benefits comes with an obligation to find a job as fast as possible. The opposition claims a person automatically deserves the benefits, because he was paying taxes. But they also pointed out the current situation is special, because of the crisis. We agree. We insist special circumstances call for harsh, even unpopular actions. The government should add extra incentives for long-term unemployed to return to the job-market. We never said we take away one’s rightly earned support, but will limit their choice on spending the money if they fail to find a job for too long. Normally they only hurt themselves by losing skills during a long unemployment period. In the downturn they also hurt the rest of society by refusing jobs with wages below their expectation set in the times the economy was thriving. In their response the opposition conceded that unemployed would return to work, which is what we wish for. They argued this is not the right way. They never mentioned an example of the right way to recover the economy. We also explained why the plan would be successful and dealt with opposition’s claims. Firstly, unemployed have economic incentives to find a job, because they want to have choice over their consumption. The inability to choose the brand of toothpaste is not stripping of basic human rights. Secondly, we show being unemployed for too long is not acceptable for the society, thus people lose the ability to make consumer choices. The opposition replied by proclaiming it is not their fault they can’t find a job. Mostly this plan tackles long term unemployed, who are also the less educated ones and according to opposition, need incentives. In most cases they have failed to take the advantage of state provided free training programs to fit the labour market, such is their choice. The plan would revive the economy which is the greatest priority now. The opposition doesn’t understand there is no difference in the degree of stimulus for the economy whether the money is spent as vouchers or cash. The workers of a big shop where people spend vouchers get paid in cash and stimulate the economy further. Vouchers should be used in the most cost effective way and local markets have to reduce costs if they want to compete. This is a step they would be forced to take anyway, because in the downturn people prefer lower prices. The plan would deal with the collective action problem. People will start taking jobs at wages currently offered by the market or learning new skills to get a job. Filling positions at reasonable wages is crucial for firms to stay competitive and develop. Scientists making coffee is an over-exaggeration, but even then, the money spent on their benefits is just lost if they do nothing. Under our plan more people would return to work and enjoy earning, spending, and reviving the economy.
Vouchers for Basics of Life Limits People's Freedom of Choice

Giving out cash rather than vouchers for basics of life, as in SQ, allows people to use the money freely, thus satisfying some of their personal needs, while vouchers limit freedom of choice. It’s just like the government telling people what to wear or eat. These people still have rights to pursue their own needs, for unemployment is not always a vice. Those people eligible for unemployment benefits have all once been employed full time, and it was not their fault that they got laid off. Furthermore, the idea of limiting freedom of choice as a means of forcing people to search for jobs is both contrary to democratic beliefs and debilitating. According to the democratic ideology, the state must serve its people. While it seems that the government is rescuing its people from destitution, it is, in fact, sacrificing people’s needs for better economy. Does the government really have rights to use people’s money however they want? Vouchers impose limitations to where people can shop. When such a high percentage of the population is unemployed, forcing these people to shop at large chain stores would negatively impact revenue for small local businesses. Those people who prefer to support small businesses would be unable to do so. Unemployment benefits are reserved for the case of economic emergency. Therefore, the government has no jurisdiction on how the benefits are to be spent. With cash, unemployed people can maintain better life quality altogether with basic necessities, which is why they have saved and paid the government 1.5% of their income. What is more, not allowing unemployed people pursue their personal needs simply pressures both the people and the society. The people would be forced to give up their private life and live as the government would have them to instead.
1) Aim of unemployment benefits

The purpose of social system is the help certain group of people who are not capable of securing their own needs or exercising their opportunities. Current unemployment benefits system fails because it has incorrect goal for the unemployment benefits and doesn’t serve its needs. The current system only gives monetary rewards for job you have done in the past and with condition that you are searching for a job. However the existing conditions do not achieve the goal of the program as many individuals decide not to work for a prolonged period and instead choose life on the welfare payments. The goal of unemployment benefits is secure proper ground for people who seeking for a new job and willing to become employed again and the program should be designed to reward the work searchers and discourage those that abuse the system. The group of people who should obtain those benefits is the one that are seeking the job but because of some reasons are not capable of getting it. Unemployment benefits help this group to exercise their opportunities while having enough funds to retrain and secure the living costs. As this group is incentivized but for some reason is not capable of exercising this opportunity, government has to help. We believe people mustn’t receive money just for the sake they have worked before. We still recognize that we have to take care of your basic needs if you are not capable of securing them, but we believe monetary funds should serve for the purpose of exercising your opportunities not as reward system. The harm of reward system is that it’s not incentivizing people to get back in job market while simply paying for not working. Opposition might argue that we already have reward systems i.e. pension systems. But even in these cases we say these people receive money not because they have worked their whole life but because they are the age when they cannot secure their needs on their own and government has to help by monetary helping them.
Maintaining Status Quo would Boost the Economy and Reduce Unemployment Rate

Cash reimbursement is better than providing vouchers in unemployment benefits system in boosting the economy and in creating jobs. We have proven why vouchers will only make the situation worse in the SQ. We believe that unemployment benefits should be cash compensation, the way it is now. Roughly 1.1 million “discouraged workers” in the US have given up hope of finding jobs, which indicates how bad the market is. As aforementioned, only jobs can reduce unemployment, and a healthy economy is the key to more jobs. For a healthy economy, the population needs to stimulate the economy, which can be done by investing money into the market. First, when given money, people can spend it in local markets, which will prevent small businesses from closing. Secondly, spending money provides “double benefits,” meaning it helps those who lost their jobs by stimulating economy which is a key for more jobs, and acts as a “job creator” for those who are being paid. This is the best option because we are helping the unemployed and providing more jobs for people, which the voucher program certainly lacks. Thus, the cash reimbursement increases the quality of millions of lives regardless of their employment status because the economy is being pushed forward. Most importantly, the cash benefits create more jobs, thus decreasing the unemployment rate and fostering a healthy economy. Hence, the opposition solves for the SQ of unemployment, and in fact, the proposition’s plan may be the last straw on the camel’s back, as their plan may lead to a future with higher unemployment rates. Distribution Checks will give people more choices on their own needs. Distributions of Checks are just like replacing the salary the people deserve but are not earning. These people have not been fired, are qualified to work, but due to unfortunate circumstances they cannot find work to support themselves.
3) More social incentive to find a job

The unemployed will have a social incentive to find a job. Depriving them of free economic choice is not merely a coercive move; it is also a clear message which shows that their lifestyle is not accepted by society. Under status quo, there is no significant difference between receiving a salary and an unemployment benefit: both provide individual with a limited periodical amount of money that they are free to spend on whatever they want. However, while a working person contributes to society, an unemployed one parasites on it. As we have mentioned in the beginning, we believe this is wrong. The state brings numerous benefits to an individual throughout her life; thus, when she chooses not to work, though she can, the state is justified if not force her to work, then at least regulate her consumption. Our plan would remind the unemployed that their condition is not normal and show them that they are not eligible to things other than basic needs because they do not contribute to society. This would motivate the unemployed to find a job as soon as possible in order not to get exiled from society. And even if a group of jobless people do not mind being seen as work shy they will still be incentivized by their personal consumption preferences, which was explained before.
Response to Proposition's Counterargument against Effects on Economy

The Proposition correctly claimed that citizens must respect gov’s aim to use the tax revenue most efficiently, except their “efficient” is flawed. Since local markets don’t have vouchers, gov needs to focus on them. They noted people often buy from big retailers anyway. This is why public expenses in SQ local markets are necessary. They claim that we didn’t prove how all those shops would go bankrupt. Well, the economic recession in SQ has stricken lots of businesses. While the unemployed people are only a minority, the impending recession puts vulnerable local shops on the brinks of bankruptcy. Vouchers would only worsen SQ. Also, their claim about gov protection of economic backbones explains why they’re being supported in SQ. Thus our focus is really on those many local markets, vulnerable to economic recessions. Then they bring up anti-monopoly agencies and competitions among companies, but due to the consumers’ increasing dependency on big corporations, demands go up, jacking up the price as the rule of supply & demand. They claim that vouchers and SQ benefit are essentially the same. However while money circulates in markets with expenses benefiting millions, vouchers are only applicable to one corporation. SQ works as a “double benefit” by letting people spend their money on crucial things other than survival needs, like job creation by healthy economy. They’re still mixing welfare systems with unemployment benefits. Unlike reward systems, benefits sustain people’s lives while allowing them to use it for other needs until a job is found. Their lower class with little rights to benefits claim is very biased. These people met the standards for the benefits and pay the regular tax rate just like anyone else; thus they’re just claiming the money they paid, which is fairly low due to their low income anyways. The system abuse claim had been addressed many times in this debate and the opposition doesn’t feel the need to mention it further
5) Why the plan would work

The current system is not incentivizing people to look for a new job, because they get monetary funding for even several years after becoming unemployed. Even in the US, the period during which a person may receive unemployment benefits is 99 weeks. In Denmark an unemployed would receive 90% of income or almost 2000 EUR/month for 4 years. [1] The unemployment benefits should serve their purpose and help people who are looking for a job, but are not capable of getting one. The assumption that people are not able to find a job, because there is none is completely false. In the US, which the team Canada wants to speak so much about, there are 5 million job opportunities [2]. Many employers struggle to find employees not because there is none, but because they lack the qualifications or are unwilling to take a particular job. Under our plan we incentivize people to understand their possibilities. Under the status quo people are looking for a job still being unqualified, not willing to train, and getting paid for that. The current system has no tools to avoid it. A good examples are Germany or France where a lot of unemployed receive enough monetary support for a very long time and are unwilling even to look for a job. They live well being on benefits, and the state has no tools to avoid such cheating. By taking away this opportunity we will stimulate people to take a job according to what they deserve and what is available in the current state of the economy. They won’t be able to wait for a miraculous job they ever dreamed of anymore. Moreover, because there are 5 million free spots, it will have a massive impact on the economy. If we stimulate these people to fill these spots, it will improve the economy, boosting the GDP. This is what both sides are looking for today. [1]https://www.workindenmark.dk [2] http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110277/some-firms-struggle-to-hire-despite-high-unemployment"
Opposition Introduction with Topicality

We would like to remind the opposition to read the rules to understand which side is entitled to set up the debate. Our choice not to specify the debate to any particular country was to avoid misunderstanding, because the practices differ much among countries. Instead we would like to debate on how this money should be distributed in general. We would also like to clarify another misunderstanding. Because of our language barrier, we mixed social welfare with social security, but even then it is based on state money and is distributed accordingly to states policies. Moreover, in some countries it equals the unemployment benefit. The attempt to bring the debate down to US and bringing example of FUTA tax is ridiculous. First, it is paid only by employers and has no impact on employee's wage, so we don’t see why employees could demand this money in particular [1]. Second, the money goes to the state budget, [3] because IRS is a government agency, so the state is entitled to spend this money accordingly to the needs of the whole society. Third, its primary purpose is to fund state workforce agencies, [2] not unemployment benefits. It is spent on unemployment benefits only during strong fluctuations like under the status quo, but not in general. The state provides you with monetary funding if you are looking for a job. If you are looking for a job for two years and being unemployed has become your lifestyle (like in Germany or the US where 6 million are unemployed for over 27 weeks[1] ), it is yours problem, not of the economy. Some people are getting money, because they are under-qualified as is seen in the US, where the highest unemployment is among high-school drop-outs[1] , but they are unwilling to accept the job offers that are bellow their expectations. [1] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf [2] http://www.futatax.com/ [3] http://www.labor.ny.gov/ui/employerinfo/futataxcreditfaq.shtm [4] http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc418.html
Vouchers for Basics of Life would Exacerbate the Economy

The opposition has correctly understood we are looking for offers from shops that would be the cheapest, so the best for the consumer. They don’t understand we choose them not because they are big, but because they are the most cost efficient, which is beneficial for the consumers. We don’t understand why we should use taxpayers’ money to support private inefficient businesses. If you can earn money yourself, you are free to spend it on charity, but if you expect the government to sponsor you, you have to respect its aim to use the tax revenue in the most efficient way. Moreover, if we consider a picture of an unemployed as the opposition portraits it, they are very thoughtful in spending their resources. They will anyway buy goods from big retailers where the prices are the lowest. The opposition has not proved why the millions of shops would go bankrupt considering that the unemployed don't make the majority of the population. But if there is a situation somebody goes bankrupt, the government should take care of the big companies. This is why it bails out big car manufacturers and important banks. Their bankruptcy hurts the economy the most, and it is much harder to deal with the consequences of big business collapses. They have many creditors, suppliers, and employees, and their bankruptcy has the largest impact on the economy. Remember Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. It is ridiculous to claim the prices soar when big companies grow. Not only they face incredible competition and constant gains from the economies of scale, but also they are closely watched by the state anti-monopoly agencies. In the US monopolies are one of the most closely watched aspects the market. If the government sees the prices grow, it can break the contract and offer it to another company with cheaper prices. Retail business doesn’t have big barriers to entry, so there is no issue with natural monopolies like in gas or electricity supplies. The market is extremely competitive.
2) More economic incentives to find a job

Unemployment benefit is only eligible for those who have worked for certain amount of years, depending on the state in full-time jobs. Moreover, people are not eligible if they have: quit without a good cause, fired for misconduct, or involved in a labour dispute. Hence, it is highly improbable that drug addicts or alcoholics would even pass those standards in the first place. In fact, people who apply for unemployment benefit are very responsible and rational, meaning they will make smart choices such as making their own lives and their family’s lives a priority before drugs and alcohol, and self-satisfying unnecessary objects. The opposition’s interpretation of the proposition’s argument about how they will get people out of unemployment by depriving them of their freedom of choice is that they will use the ‘stick’ rather than the ‘carrot’. In other words, they are essentially using hard power to force people to do what the government wants them to. History has proven that hard power is not the best way to resolve issues, such as the Korean war, where the US would have saved thousands of lives through negotiations. The government only gives back a certain percentage of the person's original salary when the person requests for a unemployment benefit. For example, an average American makes about $28,000 annually. When they request for an unemployment benefit because they were laid off, they would be getting about half of their original salary, which is barely enough for their necessities. Thus, if they want to get back into their normal lifestyles, they will be motivated to get a job as soon as they can. Thus, this is already an enough incentive for people to pull themselves out of unemployment. This means that we do not need another incentive because this already serves as a sufficient incentive.
response to proposition's counterargument against freedom of choice

The freedom of choice is essential for a liberal state (not democratic, by the way), but we should differentiate theoretical and practical freedoms. You are free to buy a Rolls-Royce (theoretically), but won't be able if you are a plumber (practically). To protect the freedom of choice, we should increase the theoretical freedom. You are free to get a job and spend your salary as you wish, but you are not free to spend the money of taxpayers on helping your local store or eating out. People in general accept the theoretical freedom, so no issue with trust. Currently people are waiting for the jobs they want. But when the economy is in downturn, there is less money, and a lower wage becomes fine. People don't understand they should all go to work to revive the economy. Skilled labour force working for a low wage in the recession is not unproductive. Even people working for a minimal wage add to the GDP. We never told skilled workers should take less demanding jobs. On the opposite, we were arguing for training the unskilled labour force. Skilled workers should lower their desired wage to get a job in the recession, overcome the crisis, and start earning nice wages again when the economy revives. The government limits the freedom of individuals by making them to pay taxes. Because of the collective action problem people are not able to build roads or parks without authority. When a former banker now is looking for job offers, he is not taking those with a low pay. He is receiving the benefits and waiting for the economy to revive, and the banking sector to start offering better salaries. On the other hand, every citizen is better off if the economy revives. No one is willing to take the first step and take a job with a low wage. The largest benefits would be acquired by those joining the labour market later, when the economy is healthy and wages high. Under our plan the government motivates people to take the first step solving the collective action problem.