Jim Zarroli

Jim Zarroli is a reporter who has covered business and the economy from NPR's New York bureau since 1996. In that position, he regularly covers a wide range of economic subjects, including employment, the stock market, the Federal Reserve System, deregulation, trade, and the media. His pieces can be heard regularly on Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and he is a contributor to NPR's On the Media.

Among the stories he has worked on recently are the accounting scandals at Enron, WorldCom, and other companies; the trials of Martha Stewart and Bernard Ebbers; the spread of tax shelters; the investigation of the insurance industry; the rise of oil prices; as well as numerous corporate mergers. As a reporter in New York, Zarroli also assisted in NPR's coverage of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, an experience that left an indelible mark on him.

Before covering business, Zarroli was a general assignment reporter for NPR. He also covered the United Nations during the first Gulf war and the Bosnia crisis. Zarroli started his radio career at WBUR-FM in Boston, and before that was a reporter at the Pittsburgh Press and the Associated Press. He has written for The Christian Science Monitor, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.

Zarroli grew up in a small house in Wilmington, Delaware, with five siblings. He is a 1980 graduate of Pennsylvania State University, with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism. He loves traveling to new places, reading, gardening, and he likes most people except those who mistreat animals. He lives with his partner in New York and has two formerly stray cats.

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12:01am

Thu June 16, 2011
Business

IBM Turns 100: The Company That Reinvented Itself

A lot of companies try to instill loyalty in their employees. But it's safe to say few of them took it as far as IBM.

For years IBM employees had to learn company songs. Journalist Kevin Maney, who was commissioned by IBM to co-author Making the World Work Better, a history of the company, says it was part of the effort to build a corporate culture. That was something IBM founder Thomas Watson Sr. took very seriously.

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1:38pm

Fri June 3, 2011
Politics

What If We Don't Raise The Debt Ceiling?

Credit Michael Nagle / Getty Images

This week the White House has been lobbying Congress to raise the $14.3 trillion federal debt ceiling. Doing so would give the government the legal authority to borrow billions of dollars to pay its bills.

Although refusing to raise the ceiling would be an almost unprecedented move, some conservatives argue it's the only way to get federal spending under control.

The Treasury Department says that if the limit isn't raised by Aug. 2, the government will run out of money to operate.

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3:00pm

Thu May 19, 2011
World

Who In The World Should Run The IMF?

With Dominique Strauss-Kahn out of the picture, the job of heading the International Monetary Fund has temporarily fallen to his No. 2 man — an American named John Lipsky.

And so it was that Lipsky found himself giving a speech in Washington on Thursday that was originally supposed to be delivered by the departed Frenchman.

"I deeply regret the circumstances that have made it necessary for me to substitute for Dominique Strauss-Kahn," he said, during the speech. Strauss-Kahn is accused of trying to rape a maid at a Manhattan hotel.

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3:00pm

Mon May 16, 2011
World

IMF Chief Charged With Assaulting Hotel Maid

International Monetary Fund Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn was denied bail Monday after an appearance in a New York City courtroom on sexual assault charges. His lawyers argued he was not a flight risk, but prosecutors said Strauss-Kahn had little motivation to return to court to answer the charges. The IMF issued a statement saying the incident won't have any impact on bailout decisions that need to be made in coming days.

12:28pm

Sun May 15, 2011
NPR Story

Blighted Areas Now A Calif. Budget Battleground

California officials are locked in a bitter stalemate over how to close the $15.4 billion budget deficit. One idea pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown is to do away with an economic development program that's been around since the 1950s and has helped transform blighted cities across California.

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