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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Every year, about half a million young Germans enter the workforce through apprenticeship training programs. They provide a steady stream of highly qualified industrial workers. -
Jerome Powell's confirmation hearing went smoothly, putting him closer to being confirmed as the Federal Reserve's next chairman. He suggested he'll continue the policies pursued under Janet Yellen. -
In an effort to sell their tax plan, Republicans in both House and Senate have touted the benefits for the middle class. But a close review of the plans reveals that such claims are misleading.
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Both tax proposals in the House and the Senate would add about $1.5 trillion to the nation's debt over the next 10 years. That's a big concern for many economists and some lawmakers.
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President Trump could ask Janet Yellen to stay on as Fed chair, but other names are also circulating. Will the next chief lead the central bank to boost rates more quickly than currently planned? -
Employers added 209,000 jobs to payrolls in July and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3 percent. That's according to the government's latest jobs report released this morning.
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All major stock indexes — including the Dow — are in record territory, even though the Trump administration has failed to deliver on key legislative promises. But other factors are at play. -
A key part of Trump's tax plan is to repatriate corporate profits held overseas back to the U.S. The idea is that companies will free up overseas earnings and invest in jobs and equipment in the U.S.
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Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, has resigned effective immediately over his role in the improper disclosure of confidential information to a financial analyst.
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President Trump has suggested an import tax of up to 45 percent on goods made by U.S. firms overseas. But it's illegal to single out individual companies and it's unclear what form the tax would take.
