From the Publisher
"I admire Chris’s commitment to apply his talent, experience, and wealth to tackle some of our toughest problems." —Bill Gates
"The American Dream is slipping away—too many people are working too hard and they’re still sinking, not even able to cover the basic costs of living. Fair Shot offers a new tool for economic mobility: a guaranteed income to all working people—even those whose work hasn’t been recognized or compensated with income before." —Arianna Huffington
"If we are to be true to the principles of our nation’s founding, opportunity cannot be solely the province of the wealthy and well-connected. Yet the promise that if you work hard you can get ahead is broken for millions of Americans. As we strive to build a fairer, more inclusive country, Fair Shot is a very important read. These ideas must be part of the conversation as we consider how best to ensure the American Dream is available to all. This mission of securing the dream for all presents an urgency for every American; the strength and future of our nation depend on our success." —Senator Cory Booker
"America was never a meritocracy, but the belief that it was fueled the American Dream and maintained social peace. Now the gig is up. Massive wealth is in the hands of a small number of people lucky enough to have been at the right places and times to grab it, while most Americans are going nowhere and can't even rely on a steady income. What’s the answer? In this thoughtful book, Chris Hughes—one of the lucky ones—explains why we need a guaranteed income, and how his life experiences have brought him to this conclusion. He makes a powerful and compelling argument that should be at the center of the national economic debate." —Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor and author of the national bestseller Saving Capitalism
JUNE 2018 - AudioFile
Tackling economic inequality means confronting cultural attitudes around work and dignity. What is it that individuals, specifically Americans, deserve? What is fair? Speaking earnestly and with passion, Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes counters the familiar American bootstrap mythology and argues for a guaranteed income, a national policy change that could supply these proverbial, but sorely missing, bootstraps to millions of Americans. With a light, determined voice, Hughes reflects on his own path to wealth, acknowledging and questioning the outsized role that luck and circumstance played. Hughes makes a compelling argument that a guaranteed income for individuals working or contributing to society as either a student or caregiver would be a powerful tool to reduce inequality and promote both security and innovation. A.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Review
2017-12-24
A co-founder of Facebook draws from personal experience to propose a guaranteed income for working people.From a family on the fringes of the middle-class in North Carolina, Hughes earned scholarships at an exclusive prep school and Harvard, where one of his roommates was Mark Zuckerberg. At a time when others were beginning their careers, the author had already cashed out his share of the social media phenomenon, earning nearly $500 million. He raised his personal stock with a key role as the director of online organizing for Barack Obama's first presidential campaign. Then he suffered the first major professional setback in his young career. He bought the New Republic and was initially hailed as a savior of the financially beleaguered magazine, but he left four years later with a staff in tatters and the publication in deeper debt. In addition to chronicling his personal story, Hughes offers a manifesto for a guaranteed income of $500 per month for any working adult making less than $50,000, subsidized by those, like himself, who have a disproportionate share of the nation's wealth. He admits that when he mentioned the proposal, "most people would walk away curious at best, suspicious at worst." But the author maintains that such a small amount of financial security would allow workers to ponder leaving jobs they hate or work in fields where there often are not commensurate financial rewards. Mostly, he writes, it's the right thing to do, and the country can afford it. "We live in the richest country on Earth at its richest moment in history, even though it might not feel that way to most people," he writes. And why not? Because "the top one percent of Americans controls nearly 40 percent of the wealth in our country—one and a half times more wealth than the entire bottom 90 percent own."Hughes makes a strong case for redistribution of wealth, though the memoir elements of the book are more compelling than the economic analysis.
