John Owen's April 13 column is a catalog of reasons that the Republicans will be deservedly trounced in the fall.

The idea that government should do nothing to address the economic calamity befalling us will work no better for George Bush than it did for Herbert Hoover.

Like the savings and loan debacle a generation ago, a lack of government oversight allowed investors to get into deep trouble, requiring costly help from taxpayers. Unless we take steps to assert prudent controls, it will happen again.

Mr. Owen would have us believe that the worst housing bubble in the nation's history is just part of the normal business cycle. I guess multi-billion-dollar bailouts of huge investment banks are normal too.

And we're told that having farmers switch from growing food to growing fuel is an "opportunity," though produce prices have soared recently and show no signs of slowing. I'm not sure that American consumers, faced with choosing between gas for their cars or food for their families, will be as enthusiastic.

As for the benefits of lower taxes, how would we know? The present administration hasn't lowered any taxes. They've merely deferred the payment for excessive spending to future generations.

Congress recently raised the national debt ceiling to $10 trillion, and Bush's budget deficits look ready to blow right past that record-shattering level. What part of Republican fiscal prudence is that?

Come November, voters are going to be able to hold the GOP accountable for fiscal mismanagement, a bungled military occupation in Iraq, a botched war in Afghanistan, our soaring foreign debt, and a host of other policy misadventures visited on them by the GOP. It won't be pretty.

Jim Heim

Vass