Re "Let's hope that Switzerland's bills pass and it goes viral in the world.": I hope it passes also. Even if it ends in tears we'll all have learnt a great deal from the experiment.
Nixon proposing a Guaranteed Annual Income was news to me. So the idea appeals to those on the right? Yes, indeed. I looked at Wiki and found some surprising names that came up with similar proposals: Napoleon Bonaparte, Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman! Social Credit theoreticians also had a similar idea and their theory appealed to Ezra Pound, TS Eliot, Aldous Huxley, Hilaire Belloc, GK Chesterton, Robert A. Heinlein and Robert Anton Wilson. Looks like we're in good company. ---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, <noozguru@...> wrote: Thanks, I saw that a little earlier in the day. Of course the Nixon administration proposed the Guaranteed Annual Income. Alaska pays its residents profits from oil leases. I know the idea twiddles the minds of conservatives but what are you going to do if there really are no jobs for everyone? Let's hope that Switzerlands bills pass and it goes viral in the world. On 10/11/2013 06:42 PM, judy stein wrote: Swiss to vote on 2,500 franc basic income for every adult (Reuters) - Switzerland will hold a vote on whether to introduce a basic income for all adults, in a further sign of growing public activism over pay inequality since the financial crisis. A grassroots committee is calling for all adults in Switzerland to receive an unconditional income of 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,800) per month from the state, with the aim of providing a financial safety net for the population. Organizers submitted more than the 100,000 signatures needed to call a referendum on Friday and tipped a truckload of 8 million five-rappen coins outside the parliament building in Berne, one for each person living in Switzerland. Under Swiss law, citizens can organize popular initiatives that allow the channeling of public anger into direct political action. The country usually holds several referenda a year. In March, Swiss voters backed some of the world's strictest controls on executive pay, forcing public companies to give shareholders a binding vote on compensation. A separate proposal to limit monthly executive pay to no more than what the company's lowest-paid staff earn in a year, the so-called 1:12 initiative, faces a popular vote on November 24. The initiative's organizing committee said the basic income could partly be financed through money from social insurance systems in Switzerland. The timing of the vote has yet to be announced, pending official guidance from the government. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/04/us-swiss-pay-idUSBRE9930O620131004 http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/04/us-swiss-pay-idUSBRE9930O620131004
