“Why is America Becoming an Oligarchy?”
A Zoom Conversation with:
- Susan Helper ’79: Professor of Economics at Case Western Reserve University and a former economic adviser in the Obama and Biden Administrations
- Les Leopold ’69: Executive Director of The Labor Institute
- Michael Mazerov ’76 former Senior Fellow at The Center On Budget and Policy Priorities
- Ben Temchine ’96: Communications Specialist for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
- Moderator Robert Kuttner ’65: Co-editor “The American Prospect”
Today, politicians and pundits on business channels point to record highs on the stock market to proclaim that the American dream is on the right track. But what does a closer look reveal? Whose interests are advanced by “business friendly” policies that cut taxes and relax regulatory oversight of commerce and finance? How is wealth distributed in America and what are the trends? How did America become a tale of two economies, a “gilded age” in which class lines are hardening and the interests of the economic elite hold sway? What are the social consequences of the income and wealth gaps for American society? What are policy alternatives?
Join a panel of Oberlin alumni for a lively and informative discussion conducted by moderator Robert Kuttner ’65.
Meet the Panelists:
Susan Helper ’79 is Professor of Economics at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. She has served as chair of the Economics Department and has been a visiting scholar at University of Oxford, the University of California, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on the globalization of supply chains and on how U.S. manufacturing might be revitalized. In the Biden Administration, Susan served as a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers and later served as Senior Advisor for Industrial Strategy at the White House Office of Management and Budget. During the Obama Administration, she was a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and later was the Chief Economist at the Department of Commerce. Susan earned her BA from Oberlin with degrees in Economics, Government and Spanish, and holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard.
Les Leopold ’69 co-founded and currently directs The Labor Institute, a non-profit organization that designs research and educational programs on occupational safety and health, the environment and economics for unions, workers centers and community organizations. He has authored a number of books including Wall Street’s War on Workers; Defiant German, Defiant Jew; Runaway Inequality; How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour: Why Financial Elites Get Away With Siphoning off America’s Wealth; The Looting of America: How Wall Street’s Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions and Prosperity, and What We Can Do About It; and The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi. Les graduated from Oberlin with a degree in Government and earned an MPA from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.
Michael Mazerov ’76 is a former Senior Fellow at The Center On Budget and Policy Priorities where he worked from 1998-2024. The CBPP is a nonpartisan research and policy institute that analyzes federal and state budgets, tax policies, and programs, and in turn advocates for policies that will build a stronger, more equitable nation. At the Center, Michael was a tax policy expert whose work focused on state and local taxation of business and the impact of state and local taxes on state economic performance. Earlier, he served as Director of Policy Research for the Multistate Tax Commission, an interstate compact organization that addresses state taxation of interstate commerce. Michael earned his BA from Oberlin in Economics and Government, and holds a master’s degree in Public and Private Management from the Yale School of Management.
Ben Temchine ’96 is a Communications Specialist for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the 126-year-old labor union representing nearly 900,000 workers in the U.S. and Canada. Before joining the IBEW, Ben worked for more than a decade as a public radio reporter, editor and producer first in San Francisco and nationally at NPR. Earlier after graduating from Oberlin, Ben served two-and-a-half years in the Peace Corps on a project in Senegal. Ben graduated from Oberlin with a degree in Economics, and earned a master's degree in Journalism from UC Berkeley.
Robert Kuttner ’65 is co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect magazine, and is a Professor in Social Planning and Administration at Brandeis University’s Heller School. He was a longtime columnist for Business Week, the Boston Globe, and the Washington Post syndicate. He was a founder of the Economic Policy Institute and serves on its board and executive committee. Bob has authored thirteen books, and his magazine writing, covering the interplay of economics and politics, has appeared in most major publications. His previous positions have included national staff writer on The Washington Post, chief investigator of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, executive director of President Carter’s National Commission on Neighborhoods, and economics editor of The New Republic. Bob earned a BA at Oberlin in Government, and holds an MA from the University of California at Berkeley. He holds honorary doctorates from Oberlin and Swarthmore.
