The initiative for an unconditional basic income obtained 23% “yes” votes in Switzerland as a whole, 19.5% in German Switzerland, 28.3% in French Switzerland and 21.9% in Italian Switzerland. This is a very respectable result for something that just a short time ago was completely unknown, was backed by practically no political forces, and was proposing a fundamental paradigm shift.
Large cities returned quite impressive “yes” scores. A number of places even achieved majorities for UBI, such as four central districts in Geneva (Pâquis 54.6%, Mail-Jonction 52.9%, Cluse-Roseraie 51.1% and Prairie-Délices 50.8%), two in Zurich (districts 4 et 5, 54.7%) and the village of Sarzens in Vaud (51.4%). [+]
"What would you do if your income were taken care of?" The Unconditional Basic Income raises what might now well be called the world's biggest question. It's been in fact written on a 110x72 meters poster, installed on Plaine de Plainpalais on 14th may in Geneva by the Swiss network for UBI. That day the poster officially won a Guinness Book award of the world's biggest poster. The event got live covered for half an hour on a big screen on New York's Time Square! [+]
Most Europeans support the idea of a “basic income” paid to every individual to cover their basic needs, according to the first EU-wide survey on the subject. Governments would pay the same amount of money to each person, regardless of whether they work.
The poll, conducted by German company Dalia Research in April, was the first EU-wide survey to address the proposal of a basic income, defined in the poll as “an income unconditionally paid by the government to every individual regardless of whether they work and irrespective of any other sources of income”.
The preliminary results found that about 58 percent of respondents were aware of the idea of a basic income, and 64 percent would vote in favor of the policy in a referendum. [+]
The inevitable "All work deserves a salary but all salary deserves work" has been pronounced. However the idea of a Lausanne laboratory to test a basic income has made it's way. The idea: "to study the effects of giving a basic income to group of people already receiving State assistance" explained Léonore Porchet. This in order to see "which are conditions that encourage or discourage the efforts of those receiving social assistance in the search for a job", she explained.
The Communal Council of Lausanne accepted this postulate of our friend, activist and member of the Council, Laurent Rebeaud Greens Vaud. The Municipality will have to consider implementing a basic income pilot project, that will allow to test this idea. Léonore Porchet brilliantly defended this postulate in front of the Communal Council and made her voice heard. The experiment is excpected to be conducted on a sample of people which already receive State assistance. Similar experiments are expected in other countries like the Netherlands and Finland.
Why the US economist and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is in favor of the Swiss initiative and what that has to do with robots.?
dvancement opportunities have been halved – Robert Reich (16 january 2014).
Interview with Robert Reich by Michael Soukup
You are a prominent advocate of basic income, on which Switzerland votes in June. Why?
Sooner or later we cannot do without Basic Income, we just won’t have another choice. The technological progress kills more and more jobs. The British economist John Maynard Keynes said in 1928, in 2028 nobody has to work anymore to ensure his living thanks to the technical progress.
Are we not working more than ever? [+]