Reagan-Gorbachev Meeting in Iceland

Congratulations on your editorial.

As an economist, I would urge all of us to keep in mind not only the possibility of saving our planet but also the economic consequences of the far-reaching agreements that would have been made were it not for the “Star Wars” pipe dream.

Your editorial states that “Star Wars” will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Add to that the savings from reducing half of all long-range nuclear systems in five years and eliminating these systems in 10 years. Add to that the savings from immediate elimination of medium-range missiles on each side.

Economists translate those trillions of dollars saved into the real savings of resources--plants and equipment, labor, management, highly skilled scientists and engineers--which can be converted from war production to production of needed goods and services in the United States as well as the underdeveloped world.

There is “still a chance” that the peaceful use of scarce resources will move us in the direction of freedom from want as well as freedom from fear. As President Roosevelt stated in 1941, freedom from fear means “a worldwide reduction of armaments to such a point and such a fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against a neighbor--anywhere in the world.”

EDITH L. PERLMUTTER

Santa Monica