L: We have a great friend who lives, along with his lovely wife, part of the time in the US and part in France. His short-line bio says, "J. Paul Horne is an Independent International Market Economist based in Alexandria, VA and Paris where he was chief international economist for Smith Barney for 24 years." I asked him to tell us how the French presidential election could affect the US economy. Here's what he wrote. JPHorne: International markets reacted positively to E

L: I find it fascinating (now that I'm over my election trauma) that Democrats and Republicans think of taxation in totally different ways. Jim and I agree that government and regulations have a place in society, and as a moderate Democrat, I can also agree that government-run programs are not a panacea and that excessive regulations ARE a problem. But, when it comes to taxes, we totally disagree on what "taxes are too high" means. Now that I've found a magic book, The Ri

The upcoming data report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis will likely report very weak GDP numbers for the first quarter--like less than

J: President Reagan used to refer to employment growth in the US as the "Great American Jobs Machine," especially in contrast with the generally weak gains in European employment that occurred at about the same time as the US recovery from the deep recession that ran from July 1981 to November 1982. During that time period in the US, the net increase in nonfarm payroll jobs from December 1982 to December 1983 was 3,458,000 and the subsequent 12-month period saw a gain of 3,

A low unemployment rate but not many new jobs. How did that happen?