What is wrong with America? Two activists talk it over

What is wrong with America? Two economists, feminists & labour activists talk it over

For more than four decades Margaret Hallock has worked as an activist in the US community, looking at the world through the eyes of workers, women, the poor - imagining and working towards a better society.

Always an activist, Margaret has worked as an economics professor, a union educator and strategist, chief economist for the Service Employees International Union 503 and advisor to politicians. She founded the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics at the University of Oregon in honour of Wayne Morse, the only US senator to vote against the Vietnam War. At the Center Margaret focused discussion on human rights issues, climate change, race politics and the US criminal justice system. Margaret’s pursuit of a fairer world for working women and men defined her working life. She is an astute observer of US political life. In retirement Margaret chairs a nonprofit that helps people transitioning from prison to the community.

Barbara and Margaret – both economists, feminists, labour educators and policy advisors - have been friends for decades and have visited each other often. They saw in the 1996 election of the Howard Government together, and have shared the painful analysis – and consequences - of neoliberalism across our two nations together in the decades since.

Barbara and Margaret’s conversation will canvas the state of US politics, working life, progressive economics, and gender and race politics.