RT takes a look at at a proposal before the Swiss Parliament to make everyone eligible for a guaranteed income.
James Pilant
From around the web.
From the web site, RapidBI Ecademy.
Dear Ecademists,
Signatures are being collected for a proposal aimed at introducing an unconditional basic income for everyone living in Switzerland.
Organisers of the initiative, launched in Bern on Thursday last week, consider a guaranteed income a civil right and stressed it was neither a redistribution initiative nor a call to abolish social welfare.
The group, including a former senior government official and an ex-chief economist of a leading Swiss bank, has 18 months to collect at least 100,000 valid signatures to force a nationwide vote on the issue.
They believe that with a basic income of CHF2,500 – children would receive one fourth of that – everyone could live in “dignity and freedom”, without being plagued by existential fears.
From the web site, weekidmuze.
http://weekidmuze.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/unconditional-basic-income-for-all-care-freedom/
Development aid, economic growth policies and other measures have failed to tackle poverty effectively. Hundreds of millions of people are still suffering from poverty and hunger. Based on the current policies poverty will persist for many more decades to come. Therefore, developing countries are considering alternative ways. In Brazil, Namibia and South Africa a basic income is now by many considered to be the best way to end degrading poverty once and for all. Brazil is the first country worldwide that has adopted a law that calls for the gradual introduction of a basic income. In South Africa and Namibia, the trade unions, churches and many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are trying to persuade their governments to introduce a basic income. And in Namibia, the BASIC INCOME GRANT COALITION has conducted a two-year pilot project. The positive results have exceeded expectations.
From the web site, Boiling Frogs.
http://boilingfrogs.info/2013/06/03/basic-income-initiative-switzerland/
Launched one year ago by two basic income groups from Basel and Zurich, the swiss initiative for basic income still has until august to make sure it has the 100.000 signatures to succeed and trigger a referendum, as specified under the Swiss law.
Yet, basic income activists were happy and smiling when welcoming me at the train station in Geneva two weeks ago. With more than 110.000 signatures collected so far, much of the job has been done already.
A referendum within two years?
But even though the press is now unanimous that they are on the verge to succeed, the activists now aim at collecting 130k signatures by august, just to make sure they reach the quorum.
If this goal is reached, then the government will submit their proposal to a votation, where all swiss electors will be invited to vote yes/no to the proposals of the initiative which aims at embedding the principle of basic income into the constitution, like it already is the case in Brazil.
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