Would you pay for Facebook?

Would you pay for Facebook?

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.
It’s been a while since we’ve started this program by dissecting a presidential tweet. But with a whiff of trade war in the air, there’s some good economic context to be had from that exercise today. At 6:03 in the morning, the president said, “When a car is sent to the United States from China, there is a Tariff to be paid of 2 1/2%. When a car is sent to China from the United States, there is a Tariff to be paid of 25%. Does that sound like free or fair trade. No, it sounds like STUPID TRADE - going on for years!” Believe it or not, the most important part of that whole thing was the last two sentences. We’ll explain. Then: It’s often said that if you aren’t paying for a product, you are the product. The past few weeks at Facebook have been a stark reminder of that. So, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg set to testify before Congress tomorrow, we’ll explore this model, other companies that use it and whether Facebook has any alternatives. Plus: Kai ended the trade war! He lost.