Marta Mossburg's argument that it is not economics but values that has caused our social dislocation ("A failure of values, not economics," Feb. 15) reflects the either/or thinking that has so polarized our nation in recent years.

The fact is that economics and values cannot be separated from one another. Each permeates and reflects the other, so that if an economic system is based on greed, the values it inculcates in the population will be reflected in greedy behavior.

Conversely, if a people's values hold sharing and cooperation to be most important, its economy will be less cut-throat, and more egalitarian.

Reality is not as simple as Ms. Mossburg takes it to be.

Howard Bluth, Baltimore