SWISS TO VOTE ON GUARANTEED $2800 MONTHLY INCOME FOR ALL ADULTS.
October 11, 2013 Category: Basic Income, Economics WG, Working Groups No Comments 
Guaranteed Basic Income.
Swiss to Vote on Guaranteed $2800 Monthly Income for All Adults
http://gawker.com/swiss-to-vote-on-guaranteed-28-000-monthly-income-for-1441514881
http://news.msn.com/world/swiss-to-vote-on-dollar2800-monthly-income-for-all-adults?stay=1
From Diana – Some potentially useful links:
European initiative: http://basicincome2013.eu/
UK group: http://basicincome.org.uk/
Clues to why UBI is supported by very different groups, for very different reasons (including some neoliberals!):
http://basicincome.org.uk/article/2013/10/neoliberalism/
I still reckon the risks of it being turned on its head depending on how it’s implemented are much smaller than the enormous historical revolution that it would entail if implemented ‘properly’!
However the Swiss proposition of 2500 swiss francs seems to fall far below the average monthly salary which is 6000 swiss francs (http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Weighing_up_the_consequences_of_a_minimum_wage.html?cid=35467568), while at least my naive idea of a citizen’s income was that one should be able to live on it, so that it implied a redefinition of the notion of “work”…
From Clive: Citizens income is an issue which is gaining traction but there is quite a lot of resistance.
http://freecriticalthinking.org/daily-pickings/696-citizens-income
From John: TRIP-UP
Hi all
Since income equality creates peace, sustainability, all kinds of wellness – and gets rid of capitalism – by Tuesday! – I share:
Re: a LIFE not a BI
Quickly to say:
a) The mealy-mouthed approach – the ‘Basic’ Income approach , CIT in the UK or the October 2013 $2800 per month proposal in Switzerland – is a waste of time:
— the proper alternative is to propose a guaranteed, livable ‘Living Income for everybody’:
— socially-determined as the one-unit, livable base income to a socially-determined min/max income after-tax ratio
— for which the new Income Briefing video gives a guide:
b) As to ‘how to pay for it’ – that’s the legislature’s role.
We may say that the five TRIP-Up* mechanisms create income-inequality (and income -inequity, too), but, if the elected legislature decides to ignore the socially-determined base and ratio by allowing any of the five TRIP-Up* mechanisms to persist – even if regulated, the electorate can decide as appropriate.
* The TRIP-Up mechanisms (all of which flow from the wealth-production and -distribution analysis are:
T = Theft eg of the economic resources listed below plus direct banditry (eg Fractional reserve Banking, theft of public assets and their ‘piratisation’/’profitisation’ – which the thieves call ‘privatisation’
R = Rent – through the theft (‘ownership’) of land and land-related resources (buildings, elecromagnetic spectrum, position, wind, wave, water, minerals)
I = Interest – through the theft of the Law (thanks Get-a-job-Rob for this clarity) – eg the legalisation of usury in 1545
P = Profit – from the theft/’ownership’ of knowledge – both frozen knowledge (machines) and fluid knowledge
Up = Unequal pay for ‘work’ – from the ownership/creation/occupation of position – eg Professors paid over the odds to peddle lies in the monversities, policemen and prison officers needing to be pad over the odds (and thus creating more crime – see ‘The Spirit Level’), etc.
Hope that helps
Oh, BTW – the way to achieve the social-determinations mentioned may well be the conversion of the House of Lords into a randomocracy ‘Citizens Assembly’ with members randomly selected, perhaps serving for three year terms and retiring in thirds.
No more TRIP-Up!!
Best – equally! – for all!
For all, in all, by all – co-operatively! **
john
** ps Google Co-operative Socialism – the True Socialism before Marx and the True Socialism After Marx – woo-hoo!! And mull over the ICA Statement on The Co-operative Identity. woo-hoo 2 !!
