John Ydstie
John Ydstie has covered the economy, Wall Street, and the Federal Reserve at NPR for nearly three decades. Over the years, NPR has also employed Ydstie's reporting skills to cover major stories like the aftermath of Sept. 11, Hurricane Katrina, the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. He was a lead reporter in NPR's coverage of the global financial crisis and the Great Recession, as well as the network's coverage of President Trump's economic policies. Ydstie has also been a guest host on the NPR news programs Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. Ydstie stepped back from full-time reporting in late 2018, but plans to continue to contribute to NPR through part-time assignments and work on special projects.
During 1991 and 1992, Ydstie was NPR's bureau chief in London. He traveled throughout Europe covering, among other things, the breakup of the Soviet Union and attempts to move Europe toward closer political and economic union. He accompanied U.S. businessmen exploring investment opportunities in Russia as the Soviet Union was crumbling. He was on the scene in The Netherlands when European leaders approved the Maastricht Treaty, which created the European Union.
In August 1990, Ydstie was one of the first reporters on the scene after Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army invaded Kuwait. He accompanied U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia as a member of the Pentagon press pool sent to cover the Iraqi invasion for U.S. media outlets.
Ydstie has been with NPR since 1979. For two years, he was an associate producer responsible for Midwest coverage. In 1982, he became senior editor on NPR's Washington Desk, overseeing coverage of the federal government, American politics, and economics. In 1984, Ydstie joined Morning Edition as the show's senior editor, and later was promoted to the position of executive producer. In 1988, he became NPR's economics correspondent.
During his tenure with NPR, Ydstie has won numerous awards. He was a member of the NPR team that received the George Foster Peabody Award for its coverage of Sept. 11. Ydstie's reporting from Saudi Arabia helped NPR win the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in 1991 for coverage of the Gulf War. In 2016, Ydstie received a Gerald Loeb Award for financial reporting for his contributions to an NPR series on financial planning.
Prior to joining NPR, Ydstie was a reporter and producer at Minnesota Public Radio. Ydstie is a graduate of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, where he is now on the Board of Regents. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, with a major in English literature and a minor in speech communications. Ydstie was born in Minneapolis and grew up in rural North Dakota.
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Healthpoint Services says it has a business model that will not only help the world's low-income populations — but also make a profit. Based in India, the company offers patients videoconferences with doctors, cheap diagnostic tests and clean water. And it hopes to spawn imitators as it proves it can be profitable. -
What exactly does it mean to be living in an economy with 2 percent growth instead of 3 percent growth? We can look forward to an even higher unemployment rate, smaller incomes and increasing government budget issues. -
Rolling blackouts in the Tokyo area are crippling businesses as diverse as automakers and fishmongers. The blackouts could continue for months, even years, as Japan struggles to bridge the gap between different power grids operating in its eastern and western regions. -
The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the recession, which began in December 2007, ended more than a year ago. But leading economists -- and the president -- said it doesn't mean the economy is now back on track.
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The U.S. unemployment rate surged far higher and has remained higher than in other major industrial countries. It's now at 9.6 percent. The big shift came when American companies cut workers more aggressively than foreign firms in the face of the financial crisis.
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Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd unveiled his plan to rewrite the nation's financial regulations. The bill released Monday calls for a council of regulators to oversee systemic risk and create a consumer protection agency at the Federal Reserve.
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The market plunge during the Great Recession has left many people without adequate funds for a comfortable retirement. Only about half the U.S. workforce is covered by some type of an employer-sponsored retirement plan. That means many workers depend on Social Security. -
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent in January, down from 10 percent the month earlier. Still, government figures show the economy lost another 20,000 jobs last month.
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The government reported Friday that the U.S. economy grew 5.7 percent in the last quarter of 2009. Although the White House called it the "most positive news on the economy to date," analysts disagree on whether the growth means the economy is out of the woods.
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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke faced tough questions from the Senate Banking Committee about the Fed's failures leading up to the financial crisis and the role it played in the bailout of Wall Street firms. While Bernanke is ultimately expected to be reconfirmed, the hearing may influence the Fed's future role in an overhauled financial system.
