The Bush Hot House.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)

Economy: From steel tariffs to placing Florida's coast off-limits to oil development, the Bush administration is on a streak of poor decisions. What's one more?

If it means complying with the Kyoto global-warming treaty, one more bad decision could mean a lot. It could cost the U.S. economy 2.4 million jobs and $300 billion a year in lost output, equal to $2,700 a year in household income.

One more bad decision could outweigh the cumulative effect of all the others. It would make the effects of signing the campaign finance reform bill seem trivial.

Bush isn't yet suggesting U.S. compliance, but an apparent shift in the White House's global warming position causes some concern. A few years ago, DRI-Wefa economists published "Global Warming: The High Cost of the Kyoto Protocol," a damning study of the climate treaty. If the U.S. cut carbon emissions to 7% below 1990 levels by 2010, as required by the Kyoto Protocol, a self-inflicted recession would surely follow.

Consider the numbers. Besides the $300 billion yearly cost to the economy, the Wefa economists predicted the price of a gallon of gas would climb 65 cents. Energy and electricity costs would double.

Even the Clinton Energy Department said Kyoto would cost our gross domestic product 3% to 4% a year and prices would shoot up 86% for electricity and 53% for gasoline.

While the Bush White House has not announced it supports the treaty, it has taken a sharp turn on global warming. Last week, the administration sent to the United Nations the U.S. Climate Action Report 2002. Right from the start it states that man is responsible for a rise in "global mean surface air ...