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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After months of negotiations, Volkswagen has reached a deal with U.S. authorities on most of the cars involved in its diesel emissions scandal. The agreement covers nearly 500,000 2-liter engine cars. Owners will get to choose between having VW buy back their vehicles or having their cars fixed. But owners still don't know how much VW will offer in the buyback, or what the terms of a fix will be.
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Global organizations have been trying to rein in the abuse that costs governments hundreds of billions of dollars. But the Panama Papers revelations show the extent to which more work is needed.
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Stock markets around the world were down again Thursday. In the U.S., the Dow and the S&P were down about 2 percent at mid-day. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is on Capitol Hill briefing lawmakers, and the price of oil slipped below $27 a barrel.
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When you pull up to the gas pump, low oil prices may make you smile. Low prices are wreaking havoc in oil states. We check in with a big oil field services firm based in Texas to assess the damage.
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Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy to combat climate change will require trillions of dollars in investment. Cheap prices for fossil fuels are making that transition a bit more complicated.
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The Labor Department on Friday reported the U.S. economy added 292,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate stayed at 5 percent. Wage growth continued to be weak, but 2016 should bring a boost.
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The Federal Reserve has held interest rates at super low levels for years in an effort to bolster the economy, but it is expected to raise rates for the first time in seven years this week.
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Volkswagen announced Thursday that owners of its diesel vehicles involved in the emissions scandal will be compensated for the loss of resale value of their cars.
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Employers added 211,000 jobs to payrolls last month, setting the stage for a Federal Reserve interest rate increase later this month.
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Companies, once seen as an obstacle to or even an enemy of curbing emissions, now realize that tackling climate change can be good for their bottom line.