Swiss Initiative Would Give $2,800 a Month to Everyone—No Strings Attached
“It will be the first time in history that a country will actually vote on whether they want a basic income for all,” Stanislas Jourdan, a “mediactivist” in France who is working on a similar Europe-wide initiative, told me in an interview today. The Europe-wide initiative requires 1 million signatures to get on the ballot and has acquired about 100,000 since the start of 2013.
There is nothing like this happening in the U.S., where conditionality is very much a part of getting government assistance for the young and able-bodied. You can’t collect unemployment insurance without proof that you’re actively looking for a job. And since the Clinton administration, you can’t get welfare without fulfilling welfare-to-work requirements that vary by state.