ChrisHughesFairShot

Well it got some of the big picture elements of Facebook's founding story right, but missed the mark on a lot of the details. You will not be surprised to know that Hollywood took all kinds of liberties -- our dorm room did not in fact look like a luxury condo and (to my knowledge!) there was no sex in the bathroom. But it is true that the idea was hatched as a kind of experiment, and then exploded. Facebook's rise was fueled by powerful economic and tech trends -- globalization, automation, the rise of finance. We were able to raise hundreds of billions of dollars because of the rise of venture capital; Facebook exploded on the backs of smartphones that were made cheap by globalized supply chain networks. The dramatic rise of Facebook and companies like it is a historical anomaly made possible by many of the same policies that are making it harder for working people to make ends meet.

1. Sometimes the best solution is the simplest: a monthly stipend of $500 to every working American making less than $50k would lift 20 million people out of poverty overnight and stabilize the financial lives of 90 million people. We can afford this by bringing rates on the income of the 1% into line with the historical average of 50%. We know that when people get modest amounts of cash, they use it smartly, their kids stay in school longer, health outcomes improve, and they're happier. We have the power to rebalance our economic system and provide more opportunity to all -- we just have to develop the political will to do it.

2. My books. I grew up an only child in North Carolina and books were my best friends. From about age 13 onward, I began to collect books to build a "library" of sorts. I carted them around with me from NC to boarding school, to Harvard, and later to California and now New York. They're my most prized possessions and the thing I won't ever be getting rid of.

I don't regret it. Facebook has been a force for a lot of good in the world, and some bad. What I think is important to recognize today is the responsibility that Facebook has in our politics and society to make sure we don't just hear people we agree with and to ensure foreign powers can't manipulate our elections. The 2016 election, Russian hacking, filter bubbles, and the rise of fake news have shown the world that Facebook isn't just a place where we go for entertainment or to share photos of our kids; it's increasingly the primary source of news and political discourse in our country. That brings a lot of responsibility, and it seems like Mark and the entire leadership team is embracing that now and thinking carefully about how to update Facebook to make it better.

To fund a guaranteed income of $500/month, we would need to close egregious tax loopholes and raise taxes on the one percent to be in line with their historical average of 50% on income OVER $250k. (So if you make $300k a year for instance, you are paying an additional $7,500.) I continually make the case that in the long term, this should serve the interests of the poor, middle-class, and rich alike because it will spur economic growth. A recent Roosevelt Institute study found that a guaranteed income of $500/month to all Americans could add a point every year to our total GDP, a huge increase. That's a level of growth that all Americans would likely welcome.

All the proceeds from the book go to a non-profit combating income inequality. The publishing agreement doesn't enable me to release the full book online, but I am able to share an excerpt: https://www.facebook.com/notes/fair-shot/rethinking-inequality-and-how-we-earn/333506477144009/