I applaud Abby Shahn’s Middle East analysis and questioning of our (U.S.) skewed politics there in her Nov. 14 letter, “Stop the wars and our economy would rebound.”

When the No. 1 industrial export is weapons and the lead marketing strategy is “endless wars,” I doubt ending wars would help the economy of this violent country.

Our consumer-based manufacturing jobs basically disappeared when our politicians were lobbied into joining the World Trade Organization, North American Free Trade Association and similar trade pacts on the road to globalization.

Steve Musica

Richmond