Blog Posts by Morgan Korn

Historically low interest rates have helped the U.S. housing market recover by attracting new buyers into the market and allowing current homeowners to refinance their mortgages at a lower rate and save money. The Federal Reserve has kept short-term overnight lending rates near zero since 2008 to encourage consumer and business spending.

Economic growth has yet to return to its pre-recession levels and the latest GDP report showed that the economy grew at an annual rate of 0.4% in the fourth quarter of last year. The Commerce Department will release its first reading of Q1 GDP on April 26.

Related: Bernanke Is One of the Most Consequential Central Bankers of All Time: Neil Irwin

Homeowners are not the only group that have benefited from the mortgage-refinancing trend. The nation’s largest banks have seen their mortgage businesses skyrocket as more Americans took advantage of super low interest rates. But recent reports by JPMorgan (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) indicate that the rush to

Austin, Texas will become the next U.S. city to get a taste of Google’s (GOOG) high-speed broadband network. The tech giant’s experimental service will be available to Austin residents by mid-2014.

“Google says it targeted Austin because we are a creative place…and we have a lot of things that blend technology and creativity in ways that I think Google would love to showcase to the world,” says Stacey Higginbotham, an Austin resident and senior writer for GigaOM, a technology news site. “We are so excited here in Austin.”

Google may be synonymous with web searching, but the company’s entrance into the broadband sphere shows that it has bigger aspirations. Some of its other pet projects like Google Glass and self-driving cars are already transforming the computer and auto industries. Google Fiber may also be self-serving – the more Americans with Internet access, the more people will use the Google site – but Higginbotham says Google is filling a customer need that the major cable

If you want evidence that the U.S. economy is rebounding, forget analyzing common economic indicators like home sales, retail sales, consumer confidence and manufacturing data. Economists and individuals need to track just one key measure of data: oil consumption. That’s the thesis of Chris Martenson, author of PeakProsperity.com and the “Crash Course” Series. Martenson says oil has always been very tightly associated with economic growth. Oil prices have not returned to their 2008 all-time highs and that’s not necessarily a good thing, he argues.

“If you want to have economic growth you’re going to need growth in oil consumption,” he says in an interview at the 2013 Wine Country Conference in Sonoma benefiting the Les Turner ALS Foundation. “Oil is the lifeblood of any economy.”

More demand for oil from businesses and consumers will drive up prices, which is symbolic of a healthy economy. Martenson points out that oil consumption in the U.S., Japan and Europe peaked in 2007 and has

The U.S. economy generated 88,000 new jobs in March – far below the consensus estimate of 200,000 – and the smallest gain in 10 months. The unemployment rate dropped to 7.6% from 7.7.% -- the lowest rate since December 2008. The federal government and retailers trimmed their payrolls last month while the health care and business and professional services industries added. The labor participation rate fell to 63.3% in March, its lowest level since 1979. The low participation rate undermined the "good news" of a falling jobless rate.

Related: The Labor Market Is in Worse Shape Than You Think

Heather Boushey, chief economist at the Center for American Progress, said the weak jobs report was a direct reflection of the sequester.

“Sharp cuts in government spending implemented March 1 are only beginning to show their ugly consequences,” Boushey wrote in a report. “Government cutbacks have already been slowing growth and are now actively pulling employment downward, but the worst may be yet

Is the U.S. becoming a nation of interns? Most colleges and universities require students to complete at least one internship before graduating. Internships are viewed as a way to get real-life working experience and make connections that will lead to full-time employment. But internships have also become substitutes for real jobs.

Journalist Hannah Seligson interviewed several young college graduates in Washington, D.C. and discovered that more and more grads have become “permaterns” – serial interns who are usually in their twenties. Kate, a 25-year-old Ivy League school grad, told Seligson that she’s had three unpaid internships since moving to DC and pays her bills by working as a restaurant hostess three or four nights a week. Kate’s story has become the new norm, Seligson says in an interview with The Daily Ticker.

“Interns have replaced the entry level employee,” she says. The millennial generation "was hardest hit by the recession. Young people are taking internships because

The ADP National Employment Report revealed Wednesday that private employers hired 158,000 workers in March -- the smallest gain in five months and below economists' forecasts of around 200,000.

Many of these new jobs are in low-paying sectors such as retail, food services and health care. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in February that retailers hired 252,000 new workers over the past 12 months and the industry overall has recovered 723,000 jobs since reaching a low in December 2009. In comparison, the construction industry has added just 349,000 new jobs since reaching its employment low in January 2011.

The U.S. economy has increased payrolls by 355,000 since the beginning of the year and employers added more than 1.8 million jobs in all of 2012. This Friday the BLS will give its latest snapshot of the domestic labor market. Economists are expecting an average gain of 200,000 jobs in March.

Thirty consecutive months of job growth has helped the U.S. economy recover

The 2008 financial crisis touched every sector of the U.S. economy and millions of Americans lost their jobs as a result. But for employees in the financial services industry, business is back to normal.

According to a new report by compensation data firm Equilar, pay for board directors at the six biggest banks averaged $328,655 in 2011. Goldman Sachs (GS) directors got a 50% increase in their 2011 annual compensation compared to 2008. The average pay for a Goldman director totaled $488,709 in 2011, but some directors earned more than $500,000. Goldman adamantly defends its policies, arguing that directors are largely paid in restricted stock, which cannot be touched until a director leaves the board. Goldman's directors met just 15 times in 2011, reports The New York Times. In 2009 all of Goldman’s 13 directors declined compensation.

Related: Main Street Incomes Stay Flat, Big CEO Packages Return

The Daily Ticker’s Henry Blodget and Aaron Task both agree that the average American –

I am speeding down the Pacific Coast Highway, the salty ocean air stinging my face as a fierce wind whips my long, golden brown hair into the heavens. I peer over the edge and watch as the azure water crashes on to the California sun-kissed sand. I stiffen my arms on the hand-sewn Italian leather wheel, physically and mentally bracing for the hairpin turn ahead. I turn the wheel hard to the right as my sidekick twists her muscular yet agile steel body around the tortuous one-lane road. The 20-inch, seven-spoke wheels skid ever so briefly on the pavement, leaving an indelible mark on that stretch of highway. My lips curl into a smirk as I look back over my shoulder. I never doubted our fate.

A loud knock on the glass window rudely interrupts my reverie. My eyes slowly adjust to the glaring fluorescent lights above. I am no longer racing along the Pacific Ocean; I am back to reality in New York City. I fight back tears as I begrudgingly leave my new best friend. I look back at her sleek