Consideration of Michael J. Boskin's Nov. 22 article, "The next trade breakthroughs," encourages my opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Keizai, the Japanese counterpart for the word "economy," originally meant managing the state and supporting people's lives — not making money.
Most economists today are obsessed with the holy grail of making more money at any cost; hence the ugly trend of the rich getting ever richer and the poor, poorer, making life miserable for the majority. Before stock exchanges, people worked to earn a living, raise children and love. Since the exchanges were established, people have worked for the sake of money, often ruining their family when an investment failed.
Who are these people with the right to cause us to abandon the decent, sustainable life of making only the necessities and to force on us the boom-and-bust lifestyle of imprudent, obsessive consumption? The earth is limited, resources are limited, and our lives our limited.
Economic policymakers the world over are pursuing limitless growth that endangers lives on earth. If we manage the Earth's resources carefully and live decently, however, the ability to pass our legacies on to our descendants may be limitless.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.