To:    The New York Times <letters@nytimes.com>
Re:    Questioning the basis of our unsustainable economy, before we wreck the planet (and our children's future) completely
Date:  Wednesday 22 March 06

Dear Editors,
 
Your lament about "profiteers" exploiting the patent laws in today's editorial, "Patently Ridiculous", is rather like a brothel worker lamenting the immoral goings-on at her place of work, because some of the practices aren't to her taste.
 
Our entire economy is based on people seeking to make as much money as possible.  There are rules (laws), of course, which lawyers are paid handsome sums to bend and get around for all they are worth, because maximising profits is what counts; the more money you make, the more successful you are deemed to be. Never mind the interests of society as a whole or of future generations, whose planet we are busy plundering - except when you're writing an editorial for the NYT, maybe.
 
It's not just the patent laws we need to question, but the very basis of our growth-dependent, unsustainable economy - before we wreck the planet (and our children's future) completely.