Blog Posts by Morgan Korn

It’s never been a better time to be a Wall Street CEO.

Median CEO compensation in 2012 totaled $9 million, a 6.9% year-over-year increase, reports The Wall Street Journal.

As CEO pay went up, so did shareholder return: the median value was 7.6% for these same firms. The Journal defines compensation as “salary, all bonuses, and the value of equity at the time it was granted” and shareholder return as “share-price changes and the value of dividends.”

Some CEOs did extraordinary well last year, specifically John Donahoe of eBay (EBAY), Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric (GE), Jim McNerney of Boeing (BA) and Kenneth Chenault of American Express (AXP). All of the aforementioned chief executives brought home more than $20 million in 2012.

Donahoe’s total compensation nearly doubled to $29.7 million from $16.5 million; Immelt’s pay rose 20% to $25.8 million; Chenault saw his total compensation jump 24% to $28.5 million and McNerney’s rose 15% to $21.1 million. Boeing’s board awarded the

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was in China Tuesday to meet with new Chinese President Xi Jinping. China marks Lew’s first official foreign trip as treasury secretary. The relationship between the world’s two largest economies has become more antagonistic recently over reports that Chinese hackers (and possibly members of the Chinese government) are allegedly conducting cybersecurity attacks on U.S. firms and banks. Both Lew and Xi affirmed the partnership between the two nations and minimized the cybersecurity concerns.

Related: China's Military Linked to Cyberattacks Against America

"The [U.S.] president is firmly committed to building a relationship of growing strength where we cooperate on issues of economic and strategic importance, understanding that we will each have to meet our own responsibilities, but we'll also have to manage our differences," Lew remarked to reporters.

A U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal that Lew’s meeting with Xi focused on the exchange rate,

All eyes are on Ben Bernanke & Co. this week.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will release its latest statement and economic projections on Wednesday. Fed Chairman Bernanke and Fed Vice President Janet Yellen remain committed to the central bank’s current policies: near-zero short-term interest rates and a monthly $85 billion bond-buying stimulus program.

Recent positive economic data – higher retail sales, a better-than-expected report on industrial production and a five-year low in the four-week moving average for new jobless claims – are indicative of an economy on an upswing. Deutsche Bank recently upgraded its U.S. economic outlook, raising its Q1 GDP estimate to 3% from 1.5% and its full-year growth projection to 3.5% from 3%.

“It’s really remarkable what we’re seeing in the economic data now,” says Deutsche Bank economist Carl Riccadonna in an interview with The Daily Ticker. “The last three years looked like we might be pulling out of the doldrums…but this time is

The nation’s finances and fiscal health may have captured the media’s attention but certain states have recently come under the microscope for their own spending and deficit-reduction proposals.

In Kansas, Republican Governor Sam Brownback wants to eliminate the mortgage interest and property tax deductions as part of his broader plan to overhaul the state’s tax system. His economic blueprint also includes making permanent a temporary state sales tax increase and lowering individual tax rates to 1.9% and 3.5% (from the current 3% and 4.9%).

Kansas has already enacted its largest tax cut in history, one that is estimated to cost the state $850 million in the coming fiscal year. In an interview with The Daily Ticker, Brownback says his proposals follow a “red state model” that emphasizes low taxes and a pro-business environment.

“We want Kansas to be the best place in the country to raise a family and grow a business,” he says. “I think we’ll have a better chance of growth than states

Charities are a booming business. According to Ken Stern, the former CEO of NPR and author of With Charity For All: Why Charities Are Failing and a Better Way to Give, U.S. charities take in $1.5 trillion every year in revenue. They employ about 10% to 15% of the American workforce (approximately 13 million people) and have assets worth almost $3 trillion. There are 1.1 million charities in the U.S. and that number grows by 50,000 every year (in good times and bad), Stern notes. The average annual charitable contribution is $2,700 per U.S. household, and more than 61 million Americans are volunteers.

Stern did not write his book to discourage charitable giving; he just wants charities to behave more like the private sector and provide tangible evidence that they’re fulfilling their missions. They should be “transparent and accountable to their stakeholders and donors,” Stern says in an interview with The Daily Ticker.

Stern argues that the majority of nonprofits “can't demonstrate any

Ahead of Friday's February nonfarm payrolls report, John Paul DeJoria, the billionaire who co-founded John Paul Mitchell Systems, has lots of career advice for the millions of Americans out of work.

DeJoria, who has a net worth of nearly $4 billion according to Forbes, experienced his own hardships before his sundry business endeavors, including Patron Spirits and House of Blues, paid off.

He grew up poor in Echo Park, Calif., and started working as young as nine, selling Christmas cards to neighbors. He and renowned hairstylist Paul Mitchell launched John Paul Mitchell Systems in 1980 with just $700. In the beginning DeJoria was living out of his car in Los Angeles as he peddled the hair products he and Mitchell created to salon owners. DeJoria says the business climate was more challenging 30 years ago than it is today – inflation was running at 12.5%, interest rates topped 17% and the federal unemployment rate exceeded 10%.

The secret to DeJoria’s success is to remain positive,

According to Michael Moss, the Pulitzer prizing-winning reporter and author of the new book Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, executives at the major food behemoths – Kraft (KRFT), General Mills (GIS) and Nestle – have known for years that the sugar, salt and fat added to their cereals, soups, tomato sauces and hundreds of other food products have put millions of individuals’ health at risk. But the quest for bigger profits and a larger share of the consumer market has compelled the processed food industry to turn a blind eye to the dangers and consequences of eating those very products.

Moss’ book exposes the inner workings of the food industry and details how these food giants spend millions of dollars to make the food we eat more addictive. After reading his book, which took Moss four years to write and report, one may never want to consume another Cheez-It cracker or Lunchable again.

How do the food giants trick consumers? Moss gives several examples:

• “At Cargill,

Purchases of new homes in January hit their highest level since July 2008, climbing 15.6% to a 437,000 annual pace. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed gains of 0.2% in December – more than anticipated. The latest data give support to the argument that the housing market recovery is underway and sustainable.

Douglas Yearley, CEO of luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL), says in an interview with The Daily Ticker that the recovery “feels like it’s the real deal this time.”

“We feel really good in almost every market we have in the country,” Yearley notes. “We’re seeing great traffic and sales.”

Related: Is Rebound in Housing Creating Another Bubble?

Yearley points out that orders for new homes are up 50% year-over-year and 40% for the first three weeks of February. The Horsham, Pa.-based company has been raising home prices in the majority of its 50 markets, a move that has encouraged undecided homebuyers to take the plunge.

“The more and more we can raise prices, the more