When I read headlines about mass layoffs at companies that were doing well just a year ago, it begins to look like the recession of 1991 again. But when I think about what the al Kyoto treaty on global warming could do to the U.S. economy, I see visions of the Great Depression of the 1930s. This so-called global treaty doesn't apply to 80% of the world's population, but it would force the U.S. to cut back carbon dioxide emissions to pre-1990 levels. That would be an economic show-stopper in America with a punishing effect on the quality of life for average families.

Kyoto or some domestic legislation based on the Kyoto standards would mean a 50% increase in the price of gasoline, a 50 to 70% increase in the cost of electricity. Even food prices would go up because agriculture needs commodities like fertilizer that are produced through Co-2 emitting processes. Our already hurting balance of trade would be further tipped in favor of big "developing" countries like Mexico, India, Brazil and China whose manufactured products wouldn't carry the costs of the Kyoto restrictions. Several studies show that as much as 20% of our manufacturing jobs would migrate to Mexico over the next 10 years if Kyoto were ever enacted.

Bottom line: Kyoto is a very bad deal for the economy that does nothing for the environment. President Bush deserves our thanks for rejecting it, not our criticism.

I, for one, don't want to see America's economy and my family's standard of living go down the tubes to support a false promise of environmental protection. But that's exactly what would happen if the Kyoto treaty or some domestic version of it ever became law in the United States.

This treaty would do absolutely nothing about global warming. The fact is, scientific experts now agree that we don't know what causes global warming or how serious a problems is really is. Scientists agree on that, and economists agree that the unreasonable carbon dioxide emission limits Kyoto would place on U.S. industry would siphon $400 billion from the economy every year, push up the cost of gasoline by 50% and aggravate an increasingly serious unemployment problem.

For the life of me, I can't understand why some factions are lambasting President Bush for rejecting this treaty. He deserves our thanks instead.

As a citizen concerned about the environment, I wish there was a simple solution to global warming. But there isn't. The negotiators of the Kyoto Treaty tried to invent one. They want the U.S. to cripple its economy by cutting back carbon dioxide emissions to pre-1990 levels. That would trigger huge price increases in everything from gasoline to fertilizer, depress the economy at a time when it's depressed enough already, and increase the unemployment rate by better than one-third. But it wouldn't protect the environment.

Scientific experts have candidly admitted there is no scientific proof linking CO-2 emissions and global warming. Even if there were, this so-called global treaty would penalize the U.S., while leaving big developing countries like China, Brazil, India and Mexico free to emit all the CO-2 their industries can produce. Where's the global protection in that? Kyoto is a bad deal environmentally and economically. I'm glad President Bush had the guts to say so.

President Bush has taken a political pounding for his stand against the Kyoto Treaty on global warming. But that's nothing compared to the economic pounding the average family would take if Kyoto ever became law. Without doing a thing to eliminate global warming or even improve our very limited knowledge of it, Kyoto would make drastic cuts in the carbon dioxide emissions by U.S. industry. So drastic that most of our basic industries would have to raise their prices for everything produced with fossil fuels That includes household staples like gasoline, electricity, even food.

A study by the Clinton Administration found that Kyoto style restrictions on CO-2 emissions would drain $400 billion a year from the economy. The WEFA consulting group estimates that Kyoto would push the unemployment rate up by a third. That means hundreds of thousands more people out of work. And for what? Scientists now admit that nobody knows the cause of global warming. Nobody even knows how serious a problem it is, not even the National Academy of Sciences. I have no complaint if the government wants to spend tax dollars researching global warming, but don't ask me to trade in my family's standard of living for a worthless treaty.

The Kyoto Treaty in global warming is not only environmentally useless, it also amounts to still another disproportionate tax on America's working poor. That's because the unrealistic carbon dioxide emission standards in the Kyoto agreement would push up the price of essential commodities like gasoline, electricity and food. Poor people spend a larger percent of their income to buy these staples. Kyoto or some domestic look-alike bill could push up the cost of gasoline by 50 percent and electricity by 70 percent, For middle class people, increases like that would be painful, for poor people they would a ticket to even deeper poverty.

Political critics of George Bush claim that he rejected the Kyoto treaty as a sop to his friends in Big Oil. I don't know anybody in Big Oil, but I know lots of working poor people, and I can tell you first hand that the President was protecting them when he called Kyoto fatally flawed and suggested we move on. 

Most American families are willing to make sacrifices for the sake of the environment. But the Kyoto Treaty would have asked the typical household to make huge economic sacrifices without any environmental benefit in return. It would turn back the allowed level of carbon dioxide emissions to pre-1990 levels. Never mind that the economy can't function without some CO-2 emissions, and U.S. industry already complies with some of tightest air-pollution regulations in the world.

The fact is that science knows very little about the cause or the effects of global warming. But there is plenty of evidence of the economic damage Kyoto would do to Americans.. Those CO-2 restrictions would drive up the price of gasoline by 50 percent, cause even bigger increases in the cost of electricity and take a hefty $400 billion out of the economy. The results: deeper recession and a permanent increase in unemployment.

The biggest irony is that this treaty doesn't even apply to 80 percent of the world's population. U.S. products couldn't compete in international markets with countries like China, Brazil and Mexico that wouldn't have to reduce their CO-2 emissions. This is a very bad deal for America, I'm glad George Bush had the courage to reject it.