3.31.25 Legal Docket on storing radioactive waste, Moneybeat on economic signals, and History Book on a fight for life

Summary

Podcast Summary: The World and Everything In It Episode: March 31, 2025
Host: Jenny Ruff and Nick Eicher
Produced by: WORLD Radio

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Legal Docket: Supreme Court Battle Over Radioactive Waste Storage

Overview: The episode opens with a deep dive into the ongoing Supreme Court dispute regarding the storage of radioactive waste in Texas. The central focus is on the proposed facility by Interim Storage Partners (ISP) in Andrews County, Texas, and the legal challenges it faces from the state of Texas and local landowners.

Key Points:

• Interim Storage Partners' Proposal: ISP seeks to build a temporary radioactive waste storage depot near Texas oil fields, which has garnered significant opposition. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) granted a 40-year license, deeming ISP capable of managing the facility effectively. However, Texas and neighboring landowners argue that the NRC lacks authority to approve such a project, citing federal statutes like the Atomic Energy Act and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.

• Supreme Court Considerations: The Supreme Court is tasked with determining whether the NRC has the authority to license private companies for temporary storage and whether the objecting parties have the legal standing to challenge the decision. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have dissented in similar contexts, highlighting concerns over regulatory overreach.

• Nuclear Energy Insights: Doug Hartmeyer, a nuclear engineer, provides a comprehensive explanation of nuclear energy and the challenges of managing spent nuclear fuel. He emphasizes the potential for recycling spent fuel, a practice adopted by countries like France and Japan, contrasting it with the U.S.'s "once-through" cycle approach.

Notable Quotes:

• Jenny Ruff [00:05]: "Today, what to do with radioactive waste from nuclear power for decades, it's ended with some form of not in my backyard, including the current dispute at the Supreme Court over a dump near Texas oil fields."

• Doug Hartmeyer [09:50]: "The spent fuel is put inside these gigantic cement casks that can withstand getting hit by a rocket-powered train."

• Justice Brett Kavanaugh [14:02]: "The statutes don't expressly prohibit, but neither do they expressly authorize it."

Legal Arguments:

• Support for ISP: Malcolm Stewart, Deputy Solicitor General, argues that the NRC has the authority to grant the license, asserting that no federal law explicitly forbids private off-site storage.

• Opposition's Stance: Aaron Nielsen, Solicitor General of Texas, labels the ISP project as a "permanent terrorist bullseye" on America's most productive oil field, emphasizing the heightened risk of deliberate attacks on such facilities.

Conclusion: The legal battle underscores the complexity of nuclear waste management in the United States. With Yucca Mountain's long-term repository project stalled, the Supreme Court's decision could set a precedent for future storage solutions, potentially pushing the responsibility to Congress to establish a permanent repository.

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Money Beat: Economic Signals and Tariff Policies

Overview: Financial analyst David Bonson joins the hosts to discuss the current economic landscape, focusing on tax reform prospects, tariff policies, and their combined impact on the U.S. economy.

Key Points:

• Tax Reform and Deregulation: Bonson expresses cautious optimism about potential tax reforms and deregulation efforts. He highlights the administration's prioritization of extending tax cuts but warns about the uncertainty surrounding their implementation timeline.

• Tariff Concerns: A significant portion of the discussion centers on the administration's inconsistent approach to tariffs, particularly on automobiles and auto parts. Bonson criticizes the unpredictability of tariff announcements, which hampers business investment decisions and market stability.

• Market Volatility: Bonson notes heightened market volatility, with the S&P and Nasdaq experiencing significant swings. He attributes this to fluctuating tariff policies and the uncertainty they introduce into the economic environment.

• Industry Impact: The imposition of a 25% tariff on auto imports and parts is expected to negatively affect U.S. automakers. Bonson argues that companies may hesitate to onshore production due to the short-term nature of potential benefits compared to the looming 2025 election.

• Future Outlook: Bonson anticipates further economic developments with upcoming tax reform announcements. He underscores the need for clarity to reduce market uncertainty and stabilize investment climates.

Notable Quotes:

• David Bonson [19:00]: "If the administration feels there is a benefit in keeping markets and people on their toes, that's very difficult policy framework for companies to make investment decisions."

• Nick Eicher [23:01]: "There's some friendly disagreement amongst all of us."

• David Bonson [25:54]: "There's plenty going on. People can say tariffs are the variable that may or may not tip the economy into recession."

Conclusion: The economic segment highlights the delicate balance between tax reforms and tariff policies. Bonson emphasizes the need for consistent and transparent economic policies to foster a stable investment environment and prevent undue market volatility.

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History Book: Revisiting the Terri Schiavo Case

Overview: Marking the 20th anniversary of Terri Schiavo's death, the hosts reflect on the enduring legal and ethical debates surrounding her prolonged vegetative state and the battle over her right to life.

Key Points:

• Case Recap: Terri Schiavo suffered an unexplained severe brain injury in 1990, leading to a prolonged legal battle between her husband, Michael Schiavo, and her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. The central conflict revolved around whether to continue life support, particularly a feeding tube.

• Recent Developments: Two decades after her death, the Schiavo family has revisited the case, seeking to unseal guardianship records to uncover potential misconduct. They argue that these records may reveal financial motivations behind Michael Schiavo's decisions.

• Legal and Ethical Implications: The case has been pivotal in discussions about the right to die, advance medical directives, and guardianship laws. It has influenced public policy and personal decisions regarding end-of-life care.

• Public Reaction: The episode recounts the intense public and political response to the case, including protests, congressional involvement, and even international attention from figures like the Pope. The legacy of the case continues to influence bioethical discourse and legal practices.

Notable Quotes:

• Terri Schiavo's Family Member [35:19]: "Because I don't want to live in a thick, Christian fascist theocracy."

• Jenny Ruff [32:10]: "In Florida, guardianship records contain a wealth of information, including financial transactions."

• Jenny Ruff [34:46]: "There's no point in keeping Terry's guardianship record sealed after all this time, that all the facts should now be known."

Conclusion: The Terri Schiavo case remains a landmark in American legal history, exemplifying the complex interplay between medical ethics, legal authority, and personal autonomy. The ongoing efforts by the Schiavo family to access sealed records indicate that the quest for truth and justice continues, even two decades later.

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Final Thoughts

This episode of The World and Everything In It provides a comprehensive analysis of pressing issues in legal, economic, and historical contexts. From the high-stakes Supreme Court deliberations on radioactive waste management to the intricate dynamics of national economic policies, and the lasting impact of a landmark legal case, WORLD Radio delivers insightful journalism grounded in factual reporting and expert analysis.

For Further Listening:

• Legal Docket: In-depth exploration of nuclear waste storage solutions.
• Money Beat: Detailed financial analysis and economic forecasts with David Bonson.
• History Book: A reflective recount of the Terri Schiavo case and its enduring legacy.

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This summary is intended to provide a detailed overview of the podcast episode for those who have not listened. For an immersive experience and comprehensive understanding, listening to the full episode is recommended.

Transcript

[Jenny Ruff]

Good morning. Today, what to do with radioactive waste from nuclear power for decades, it's ended with some form of not in my backyard, including the current dispute at the Supreme Court over a dump near Texas oil fields.

[Nick Eicher]

What the commission has just done is.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

Put a permanent terrorist bullseye on the.

[Nick Eicher]

Most productive oil field in America.

[Kent Covington]

That's ahead on legal docket. Also today, the Monday money beat and the world history book. Twenty years ago today, terrorist Schiavo breathes her last.

[David Bonson]

She told me what she wanted. And the courts heard it over and.

[Nick Eicher]

Over and over again.

[Jenny Ruff]

It's Monday, March 31st. This is the world and everything in it. From listener supported World Radio. I'm Jenny Ruff.

[Kent Covington]

And I'm Nick Icker. Good morning.

[Jenny Ruff]

Now the news with Kent Covington.

[David Bonson]

In the Middle East, Hamas is reportedly agreeing to a Gaza ceasefire proposal by the governments of Egypt and Qatar. It is said to be similar to a plan presented by the US Several weeks ago. It would include the release of five Israeli hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Cabinet meeting on Sunday said military pressure is working in a new ceasefire. Hamas is said to be seeking a return to the conditions of phase one, which expired a month ago, along with an agreement to negotiate, negotiate a second phase. Israel has responded with a counteroffer. Meantime, negotiations toward a ceasefire in Ukraine have not progressed as President Trump had hoped. Republican Senator Mark wayne Mullen told NBC's Meet the Press, what has happened here.

[Kent Covington]

Is that Putin, he doesn't feel is.

[Nick Eicher]

Negotiating on actual terms. He keeps delaying.

[Kent Covington]

And what President Trump has said right.

[Nick Eicher]

Now is if he continues to play games, he he's going to get tough on Russia.

[David Bonson]

Mullen says Trump did the right thing by starting with a cooperative tone with Russia to get Vladimir Putin to the bargaining table. But Democratic Senator Michael Bennett says the Kremlin is doing exactly what everyone on.

[Nick Eicher]

Planet Earth would have expected Putin to do, which is not come to an.

[Kent Covington]

Agreement unless he's forced into an agreement.

[David Bonson]

He charges that Trump has eased pressure on Moscow, thereby undermining the bargaining power of Ukraine and its allies. President Trump is threatening the Kremlin with tariffs and secondary tariffs that would apply to any country that does business with Russia. White House officials remain in the hot seat after messages from a discussion among top defense officials were accidentally leaked. Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner calls it very concerning. He told ABC's this Week, I do think, though that both the Armed Services.

[Kent Covington]

Committee, the Intelligence Committee's are taking up this issue and I think that there will be a review going forward as to whether or not Signal should be used and whether these types of conversations should occur.

[David Bonson]

Signal is the encrypted app on which that defense discussion took place. Turner added that he has not lost confidence in Trump administration defense officials. But the top Democrat on the Senate Intel Committee, Senator Mark Warner, says he does not share Turner's confidence. And he adds that this incident was.

[Nick Eicher]

The first time, I think, since the.

[Jenny Ruff]

Second Trump inaugural where the Democrats were on offense because of the repeated, sloppy.

[Nick Eicher]

Careless approach to classified information.

[David Bonson]

The editor in chief of the Atlantic later published details about a recent U.S. strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Danish foreign minister is criticizing the Trump administration's tone following Vice President J.D. vance's visit to Greenland. During a stop by a U.S. military base in Greenland on Friday, the vice president said, we respect the self determination.

[Jessica Turner]

Of the people of Greenland. But my argument again to them is I think that you'd be a lot better coming under the United States security umbrella than you have been under Denmark's security umbrella.

[David Bonson]

President Trump is pushing for control of Greenland. He says it's critical for US national security to counter the growing military presence of China in the Arctic Circle. Vice President Vance on Friday accused Denmark of underinvesting in the territory and said the US could make it much more secure. Denmark's foreign minister calls the rhetoric inappropriate, saying the country is already investing more in Arctic security and is open to US collaboration. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit near Tonga early this morning, local time. There were no initial reports of injuries, but Jessica Turner with the U.S. geological.

[Jenny Ruff]

Survey says with any large shallow earthquake.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

We do expect aftershock to continue. One thing we do need to be aware of with a large magnitude earthquake.

[Nick Eicher]

That can cause aftershocks is those aftershocks.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

Can be larger themselves and cause more damage.

[David Bonson]

Meanwhile, in Myanmar, the death toll from a 7.7 magnitude earthquake there on Friday is now well over 1600 and that figure will likely continue to grow. At least 17 people were also killed in Thailand. I'm Ken Covington. And straight ahead, a battle at the Supreme Court over radioactive waste. That's ahead on Legal Docket plus, the Monday Money beat. This is the World and everything in it.

[Jenny Ruff]

It's Monday, March 31st, and you're listening to the world and everything in it from World Radio. Good morning. I'm Jenny Ruff.

[Kent Covington]

And I'm Nick Eicher. Time now for Legal Docket first, the Supreme Court handed down two opinions last week. One upheld a federal regulation on so called ghost guns. The decision allows the government to expand the definition of firearms. It can regulate to include gun parts, kits and unfinished frames or receivers. It reverses an appellate court ruling that held only a firearm as a firearm. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. The other was a win for the irs. The court set a limit on the power of a bankruptcy trustee to recover tax payments made to IRS before a bankruptcy is filed.

[Jenny Ruff]

Today we get up close and personal with nuclear waste. Not too close, but close enough to understand a problem the US Government has not been able to solve, namely where to store highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. So if the federal government can't solve this problem, maybe the private sector can.

[Kent Covington]

And so enters a company named Interim Storage Partners. It proposes building a storage depot in Texas, Andrews county, population 19,000, on the border with New Mexico and just north of Midland, Texas. The company filed an application with a federal agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC granted a license on the grounds that Interim Storage Partners could really make good on that name. Interim meaning the storage facility the company would build would be a temporary one.

[Jenny Ruff]

Temporary meaning 40 years Power plants from around the nation would ship radioactive waste by train to that temporary dump until a more permanent solution can be found.

[Kent Covington]

But the state of Texas said no thanks. It sued. And so did private landowners who run oil and gas operations in the nearby Permian Basin. They want to stop the project. Texas and the landowners argue the federal agency NRC does not have authority to allow that. Now, whether the NRC can license a private company to build a temporary waste facility is one question the Supreme Court is looking at. A second relates to the question whether the objecting parties even have standing to bring this lawsuit.

[Jenny Ruff]

We'll get to the legal arguments in a minute, but I wanted to first understand more about nuclear energy, so I got in touch with a nuclear engineer named Doug Hartmeyer. He's been interested in this form of energy since he was a kid.

[Jessica Turner]

Wait a minute. You're telling me that a piece of uranium fuel that's the size of a Gummy bear or something like that has as much energy as six train cars or so filled with coal?

[Jenny Ruff]

Today, Hartmeyer's all grown up. He works for a consulting firm where he develops strategies to build nuclear reactors.

[Jessica Turner]

When you think of sources like coal or natural gas or nuclear, all it comes down to is a different way to boil water that spins a big turbine that then converts that into electricity and powers on the appliances and everything we need in our day to day life. And so rather than burning something, which is what we do typically with natural gas or with coal, nuclear splits atoms.

[Jenny Ruff]

Uranium atoms, and when you split those atoms, a process called fission, you create.

[Jessica Turner]

A lot of heat in the process that in turn boils water to go spin that turbine.

[Jenny Ruff]

Eventually, the uranium is unable to sustain the fission process. And what's left behind is called spent nuclear fuel.

[Jessica Turner]

The fuel which is a solid, it's a ceramic pellet. They're stored in these big fuel pins and fuel bundles. And then they're put into a spent fuel storage pool for four to ten years or so.

[Jenny Ruff]

These are specially designed pools of water. You need that. Because the bundles and pellets are so hot, after they cool, they go to dry storage at the reactor site.

[Jessica Turner]

The spent fuel is put inside these gigantic cement casks that can withstand getting hit by a rocket powered train. That's the design tolerance they were tested to that end up sitting in the parking lot at the reactor.

[Jenny Ruff]

The parking lot, so to speak, is not exactly full. The waste doesn't take up a lot of space, but it is dense, it's heavy.

[Jessica Turner]

You know, what's surprising to a lot of people is that if you took all that waste and stacked it up.

[Jenny Ruff]

Stacked it about 10 yards high, it.

[Jessica Turner]

Would cover about a football field in the US So there really isn't a whole lot of it. The trick with it is that because it's been in that reactor, it's radioactive.

[Jenny Ruff]

So you have to shield people from it. Texans worry about the risk of accidental exposure that could cause cancer or other health problems.

[Kent Covington]

54 nuclear plants operate in 28 US states. Nuclear power accounts for about a fifth of the electricity in America. It is considered clean energy except for that toxic waste. Storing it above ground in cement casks was not the original plan. Back in 1982, Congress asked the Department of Energy to deal with the problem of nuclear waste by finding a long term storage repository underground. Twenty years later, Congress found a place to bury it under Yucca Mountain in.

[Jessica Turner]

Nevada, which is located, you know, nearby to Area 51, where the US did a lot of its atomic testing back in the 50s and you know, identified that as a long term geological repository where there was, you know, very stable earth formations and, and you know, anything that goes down into that cavern, there's nothing that's going to happen down there.

[Kent Covington]

Still, Nevadans pushed back and it turned into a political quagmire with Barack Obama in the White House. He halted the program in 2009. And that brings us to present day. At the U.S. supreme Court for the.

[Jenny Ruff]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart. He argued in support of the storage project. In Texas, Justice Neil Gorsuch questioned Stewart about that big hole in the ground in Nevada.

[Kent Covington]

So Yucca Mountain was supposed to be the permanent solution. Congress so ordained, I think it said it had to be done by 1998. No president has complied with that in all the years since. We spent something like $15 billion on it. It's a hole in the ground.

[Jenny Ruff]

Justice Gorsuch said the new plan in Texas doesn't seem very temporary. He'll refer to the company that wants to build it. Interim storage partners. By its initialism, ISP and parties seem.

[Kent Covington]

To think Yucca Mountain project is dead. And if that's true and there's no different permanent repository, how is this interim storage that the government is authorizing here in any meaningful sense? And especially when I think ISP is given a 40 year license? That doesn't sound very interim to me. Well, it's renewable too. Apparently it is renewable. If they applied for a renewal of.

[Jenny Ruff]

The night license, there would be a new commission adjudication.

[Kent Covington]

And to the extent 40 years from now.

[Jenny Ruff]

40 years from now. I don't mean to seem glib, but the repository is intended to keep nuclear.

[Kent Covington]

Waste stored safely for on a concrete platform in the Permian Basin where we get our oil and gas from. So hopefully we won't have radiated oil and gas.

[Jenny Ruff]

But Stewart argued the health and environmental risk is not the issue before the court. It's simply whether the Commission has the authority to grant the license.

[Kent Covington]

Two federal statutes are at play here, the Atomic Energy act and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The parties favoring the Texas plan say there is nothing in the statutes expressly prohibiting the Federal Commission from granting a license. Justice Brett Kavanaugh discussed that with a lawyer for the would be licensee interim storage part is what you're saying. I think Congress would have explicitly prohibited private off site had it. Had it wanted to do so. Is that what you're saying?

[Jenny Ruff]

Yes. Yes.

[Kent Covington]

The statutes don't expressly prohibit, but neither do they expressly authorize it. Here is Justice Clarence Thomas.

[Nick Eicher]

There's no language that you could use to say that spent fuel shall be.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

Or is permitted to be stored off site.

[Nick Eicher]

You're stitching together it's seeming just constituent parts, not just spent fuel.

[Jenny Ruff]

Solicitor General of Texas Aaron Nielsen raised a big fear.

[Nick Eicher]

What the Commission has just done is.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

Put a permanent terrorist bullseye on the.

[Nick Eicher]

Most productive oil field in America.

[Jenny Ruff]

He does have well publicized evidence. Three Mile island in the us, Chernobyl in Ukraine, Fukushima in Japan. These were human error, design defects or natural disasters. But the fear of a deliberate Attack. Justice Kavanaugh asked Nielsen about that.

[Nick Eicher]

In your opening, you used the phrase.

[Kent Covington]

Terrorist bullseye, which is obviously distinct language. We've known of that at least since September 11, 2001. Yet Texas supported this project as I understand it. Correct me if I'm wrong, for several years.

[Jenny Ruff]

He's referring to the fact that before Governor Greg Abbott objected, former Governor Rick Perry seemingly approved the project. Nielsen clarified, not exactly.

[Nick Eicher]

That is not a ringing endorsement by Governor Perry. He was just going to say this is the best of the bad options.

[Kent Covington]

There's another issue here, too. Under a federal law called the Hobbs act, if you want to challenge an agency's decision in court, you first have to have been part of the agency's proceedings. When the Nuclear Regulatory Commission took up the issue, Texas filed an objection but did not intervene as a party. The landowners did to intervene, but the commission wouldn't allow it. And now the NRC is invoking the Hobbs act, saying neither Texas nor the landowners were parties to the proceedings. So the court has to dismiss the case. Justice Elena Kagan said the commission might be right on that point, even if it's a bit unfair. The agency has so much control.

[Jenny Ruff]

It seems to me party means somebody.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

Who has participated in an agency proceeding with the degree of formality required for that proceeding.

[Kent Covington]

I don't see how we can say.

[Jenny Ruff]

That you were a party. The court could dismiss this case for that reason and never get to the merits. If it does reach the merits, the justices might say the law of the land still calls for a permanent repository and kick the ball back to Congress to finish its job. Whatever happens, the need for energy is not going away. If anything, it's growing. And nuclear could be the key. Doug Hartmeyer, the nuclear engineer, would like our country to recycle spent fuel. Right now, the United States uses a once through cycle. It goes from the mine to the reactor to storage forever.

[Jessica Turner]

If you took a log and threw it into the fireplace and the log has bark on it, the once through cycle is like burning the bark off of the log and then taking the rest of the log and throwing it back out into the woods.

[Jenny Ruff]

Other countries like France and Japan use a closed loop cycle known as reprocessing. The spent nuclear reactor fuel goes to further use.

[Jessica Turner]

So a lot of this waste, as we call it here in the US Is still viable. We can get a lot more energy out of it.

[Jenny Ruff]

The United States considered reprocessing in the 1970s, but it went the way of Yucca Mountain, just a big empty hole in the ground. So it may be time to start digging again. And that's this week's legal docket.

[David Bonson]

Additional Support comes from Letourneau University, the Christian Polytechnic University.

[Nick Eicher]

More at LetU. Edu.

[Jenny Ruff]

Coming up next on THE WORLD and everything in it, the Monday MONEY beat.

[Kent Covington]

It's time now to talk business, markets and the economy with financial analyst and advisor David Bonson. David heads up the wealth management firm the Bonson Group, and he is here now. Good morning, David.

[Nick Eicher]

Well, good morning, Nick. Good to be with you.

[Kent Covington]

Well, David, you've been on the road quite a bit lately, including a trip to Washington, and I'd like to start there. You've said that you came away encouraged about the prospects for tax reform, but your latest dividend cafe paints a pretty downbeat picture overall. Talk about why you think so.

[Nick Eicher]

Well, the negative, Reid, all centers from the concerns about tariffs combined with the questions as to whether or not the offsetting thing, the good thing, is going to come or not, which is the tax reform. So I think that if we were in a situation where there were no tariffs on the table and about to be great tax reform and deregulation, that's like the best case scenario in terms of where policy positively impacts the economy. If we were in a case where there were tariffs on the table and uncertainty about trade impairment, that would be a negative. But then there was this positive of tax reform about to happen, extending the tax cuts along with deregulation, you could argue that becomes a little bit of a mixed bag. And then inverse to the double positive is the double negative, where theoretically, what if you get the tariffs and uncertainty surrounding them and yet you don't get the upside supply shock of tax reform, tax cut, extension, et cetera. The analogy we've been using is like if you get your spinach but don't get the dessert, I don't know that that is going to happen, but that would certainly be a scenario that markets are worried about. And I came away from my time in Washington a little more encouraged that there is a very substantial priority to get this tax reform done at treasury. And I think they acknowledge that their messaging got off a little bit. The media is going to run with all of the negative and none of the positive. But no, I do believe it's still a priority for the admin to get these tax cuts extended and hopefully to get it all done sooner than later. Because there's two things going on, not just getting it done, but when you get it done. Because if this isn't going to happen until the very end of the year, that is going to leave months and months of uncertainty that could very well impact business decisions and capital investment along the way. So the bulk of my negativity centers around the tariff policy. And unfortunately, as we're sitting here at the beginning of this week, where they've called April 2nd, which is the Wednesday a couple days from now that they are anticipating these big announcements, my view is we're not really going to get a lot of clarity that we're going to get some announcements, but then they could very well unannounce it the next day. And that's sort of the posture the administration's taken so far. Nick.

[Kent Covington]

Well, David, your friend Larry Kudlow wrote a piece in which he makes an argument that fears about tariffs are overblown because Trump's supply side tax cuts and deregulation plans will more than offset any negative effects. He says you're looking at potentially $5 trillion in pro growth stimulus over against the cost of just a few hundred billion in tariffs. What do you think of Kudlow's argument there?

[Nick Eicher]

Oh, sure. I had dinner with Larry four nights ago and we talked about this for a long time. So I have a couple thoughts. I don't agree with Larry entirely about it, and I believe that Larry is also speaking to that second part that I alluded to, the dessert, that he feels more sanguine about the spinach. If the dessert is going to come and he's confident it will. I personally do not agree with him on the spinach portion either. I'm more in Steve Forbes camp here. You know, you have these guys, Steve Forbes, Steve Moore, Larry Kudlow, Art Laffer, who are all key economic advisors in Trump 1.0. And two or three of them are still pretty much with me on being free traders and tariffs. And a couple have taken a little bit more open posture around tariffs. And without speaking out of turn, I'll just say that there's some friendly disagreement amongst all of us.

[Kent Covington]

Okay, fair enough. Well, David, let's drill down on the tariffs just announced on automobiles and auto parts and we should know a bit more on the second on Wednesday. The messaging, though, from last week seemed all over the map. You had leaks to the press. You had reversals, surprise inclusions. What is your read on what he said and what we might expect and how that's landing with the markets?

[Nick Eicher]

Well, I think the 25% tariffs he did announce last week on both auto imports and auto parts, and it would take billions of dollars in years to move a lot of that onshore, that cost is very detrimental to U.S. automakers. And the fact of the matter is that I don't believe companies are going to be able to onshore that anyways because they know that we have an election in a few years. And why spend billions of dollars for a four or five year plan when you could ride it out and see what the political winds are doing in a few years? And it was also kind of surprising because the administration leaked to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday afternoon that they were not going to impose that tariff cost on auto parts. And then when the president made the announcement, they did include auto parts. So it just sort of speaks to the fact the administration feels, for whatever reason that there is a benefit in keeping markets and people on their toes. And the changes that are coming so frequently. You know, there are some days where he has said this can't be undone. We're going forward, we're going to get this fairness and this is going to be a tariff cost that's going to really help America. And then he said on Thursday, oh, I might lower China's tariffs if they let us buy TikTok. So it's very difficult to know are these tariffs really important or not? Why would a little teenage dancing app change the tariff policy? It's just, it's kind of bizarre. But I think that we may end up needing to talk in a couple days because we are going to know more April 2 that might enable me to answer this question better. But one of my big points right now is I'm not really sure that I'm going to know more in a couple days because I believe that the president is holding on to a lot of personal discretion outside of his Commerce Department, outside of his Treasury Department. For him to say this one I'm going to do, this one I'm not going to do. This goes up, this goes down. And that's very difficult policy framework for companies to make investment decisions. And it's very difficult for markets to price in what the costs are going to be. And I assure listeners that there is a cost.

[Kent Covington]

All right, before we go, David, we have been spending quite a lot of time in the Washington policy zone and really nowhere else in business markets and the economy. Are we right to hang out there or is there a big story elsewhere that you think maybe we've missed?

[Nick Eicher]

The Washington policy zone is the largest story right now in markets in terms of day to day sentiment and how risk takers are feeling about being investors. But it's certainly not the only story. You know, the valuations that exist that are still very elevated even for a lot of these tech type companies that have gotten hit pretty hard. From a pure investment story, Nick, I think it's fascinating that a lot of dividend stocks and value type stocks are up on the quarter. It has not even been a down quarter even as the S and P and the Nasdaq entered correction mode, both going down over 10%. The elevated degree of volatility, whether it's a good or bad story, this last week markets were up 600 points Monday and they were down 700 points Friday. So there's a lot of give and take. There's valuation. And then now as we get into the middle of April, we're still a few weeks away. Earnings season will now start again. Then you get to see what companies are reporting from their first quarter results and their projections going forward. This is where that Dallas Fed survey that I talked about is so important because it's certainly not a political deal or partisan. These are absolutely, for the most part, Trump voters, you know, oil and gas executives in the energy exploration and production space all saying that steel costs going up 30% is hurting them, that uncertainty about tariffs is causing them to lay low on different projects. That's the oil and gas sector, let alone other parts of the industrial economy. So I think we're going to start getting more information later into April and I believe that's going to be a big market story as well. So no, there's plenty going on. People can say tariffs are the variable that may or may not tip the economy in recession. But recession is a question, you know, are we facing better economic conditions or worse ones as we go into the spring, summer, you know, later into 2025. All of these stories are separate, but they all kind of connect from the Fed to tax policy to tariffs and then ultimately these economic conditions. The last thing I'll say, Nick, from last week was non defense capital goods orders went down in they had been up almost 1% in January. They contracted, they were supposed to go up a little bit yet a half of a percentage point drop. I think that again, it's only one month. We want to look for how this kind of plays out for a longer period of time. But that to me is a very big story around business investment, holding the economy and our growth expectations.

[Kent Covington]

David Bonson is founder, managing partner and chief investment officer of the Bonson Group. David [e-mail] and regularly for World Opinions. David, thanks so much. We'll talk to you next week.

[Nick Eicher]

Thanks so much, Nick.

[Jenny Ruff]

Today is Monday, March 31st. Good morning. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Jenny Ruff.

[Kent Covington]

And I'm Nick Eicher. Next up, the world history book. In the pre dawn hours of February 25, 1990, a 26 year old Florida woman named Terri Schiavo suffered a severe brain injury. It was an injury that according to the Pinellas county coroner, remains unexplained. Terri Schiavo's medical plight triggered a bitter legal battle that is still studied in universities today. Depending upon one's perspective, the issue is either the right to die or the right to live.

[Jenny Ruff]

The Schiavo case ended in 2005, but Terry's family returned to court just last year. Two decades have passed since Terry died, but they're still trying to uncover the whole truth. Here's World's lynn Vincent.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

It's March 18, 2005, the first day of Terri Schiavo's slow motion death.

[Kent Covington]

Despite the prayers of millions, pleas from the Vatican, the President and an act of Congress, it came down to a.

[Jenny Ruff]

Handful of judges, especially this judge, George.

[Kent Covington]

Greer of Florida, who time after time.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

Ruled that Terry should be allowed to die. Allowed to die. It's one of those slippery phrases that's lodged itself in the historical catechism of the Terri Schiavo cave. There are others, such as comatose, persistent vegetative state, and right to die. You may remember this case.

[Jenny Ruff]

It started as a fight between her.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

Parents and her husband over ending her life support. Terry suffered a severe anoxic brain injury in her St. Petersburg, Florida apartment. It happened in the middle of the night. Only her husband Michael was at home. The incident left Terry dependent on caregivers and on a feeding tube for nutrition, but no other life support. Eight years later, Michael Schiavo took Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, to court. His claim that Terry had once told him she would never want to be kept alive artificially, that she would want to die.

[Nick Eicher]

She told me what she wanted, and.

[David Bonson]

The courts heard it over and over.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

And over again for 12 long years. The Schindlers argued that Terry was alive and responsive, especially with family. They said Michael invented Terry's wish to die only after receiving money from a medical malpractice suit and after falling in love with another woman.

[Nick Eicher]

There was a lot of money that he would have assumed upon her death.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

Terry's brother, Bobby Schindler, he was living with another woman.

[Nick Eicher]

What else do you need to know?

[Doug Hartmeyer]

The Schiavo case inspired a generation to create advance medical directives to spell out their Wishes on paper in case of tragedy. The case is still studied in university schools of law and medicine and in the field of bioethics. That's one reason that though 20 years have passed, the Schindler family has not given up. In March 2024, Bobby and his mother Mary filed a motion to unseal guardianship records in the case. That is court records that show the history of Michael's actions during the 15 years he served as Terri's legal guardian. Almost immediately after Terri passed away, one of the first things that Michael did was petition the court to seal her guardianship files.

[Nick Eicher]

And I remember at the time we.

[Jenny Ruff]

Wanted to look into it and find.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

Out why or oppose it or somehow fight it. That was in 2005. In 2021 and 22, World Radio reinvestigated Terry's case for our true crime podcast, Lawless. What we found drew bright lines between the received version of history, what you'll likely read on the Internet about Terry's case and hear on other podcasts, and what actually happened. Bobby says it was World's investigation that put the guardianship records back on his radar. We decided to go ahead and petition.

[Nick Eicher]

The court to see if in fact.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

We can have them reopened. We don't know what is contained in those records. We don't know why Michael was so quick to seal them. In Florida, guardianship records contain a wealth of information, including financial transactions. From the very beginning of the Schiavo case, money was a burning issue on Terry's behalf. Michael won a seven figure medical malpractice judgment in November 1992. During the trial, Michael told the jury and the Schindlers he would use any money won in the case to take care of Terry. But just a few months later, after nearly coming to blows with Terry's father, Bob, he broke with the Schindlers and made the first of at least six attempts to end Terry's life. During the 12 year court battle that followed, each side accused the other of wanting Terry's medical trust fund for themselves. In court last March, attorney David Gibbs argued there's no point in keeping Terry's guardianship record sealed after all this time, that all the facts should now be known.

[Nick Eicher]

We in Florida have a concept called the Sunshine Laws. Basically, the idea is that good government, good courts should be examined by the public. They should be in the sunshine. They shouldn't be in the shadows.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

But last month, Judge Sherwood Coleman denied the Schindler's motion. And today, the guardianship records remain sealed. When Schindler versus Schiavo finally hit the national news back in 2003. It galvanized protests.

[Nick Eicher]

Why did you come down here?

[Jenny Ruff]

Because I don't want to live in a thick, Christian fascist theocracy.

[Nick Eicher]

Demonstrators who are have remained camped out.

[Jessica Turner]

In front of Terri Schiavo's hospice in.

[Nick Eicher]

Pinellas park showed frustration and desperation.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

And a half dozen got out of.

[Jessica Turner]

Their wheelchairs yesterday, laid out in the.

[Nick Eicher]

Road and started chanting, we're not dead yet.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

The case drew in Congress, President George W. Bush, the U.S. supreme Court, and even the Pope. There were death threats against Michael Schiavo and the main judge in the case, Probate Judge George Greer.

[Nick Eicher]

I wore a bulletproof vest when I wasn't in the courthouse and wasn't at home. When I walked the dog, I wore a bulletproof vest.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

By the spring of 2005, the street outside Florida Hospice of the sun coast was jammed with satellite trucks and celebrity news anchors. There were even snipers on the rooftops. By then, Terry's parents had exhausted their legal options. And on March 18, 2005 at 1pm doctors removed the only life support. Terry relied on that feeding tube that delivered her nutrition. Since she couldn't swallow on her own. This was the third time doctors had removed the tube. The first two times. Eleventh hour. Seeming miracles pulled Terry back from the brink of death. But this time, Mary Schindler prayed as though this, this might be the end.

[Jenny Ruff]

Just going to mass and praying and just asking the Lord to please, just whatever you're going to do, I don't.

[Nick Eicher]

Want her to suffer.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

For 13 days, supporters around the world prayed with Mary for yet another miracle. Instead, Terri wasted away. Her eyes sank into her skull. Her tongue turned white and flaky as her face caved in. Her teeth protruded like those of an Auschwitz prisoner. And in her final hours, as Terri labored to breathe, the death rattle in her chest could be heard halfway down the hospice hall. Twenty years ago today, on March 31, 2005, at 9:05am, Terri Schiavo took her last breath. From the White House briefing room. President George W. Bush addressed the nation.

[Nick Eicher]

I urge all those who honor Terri Schiavo to continue to work to build.

[Kent Covington]

A culture of life where all Americans.

[Nick Eicher]

Are welcomed and valued and protected, especially those who live at the mercy of others.

[Kent Covington]

The essence of civilization is that the.

[Nick Eicher]

Strong have a duty to protect the weak. Cases where there are serious doubts and.

[Kent Covington]

Questions, the presumption should be in the favor of Life.

[Doug Hartmeyer]

Reporting for World, I'm Lynn Vincent.

[Jenny Ruff]

World is marking the 20th anniversary of Terri Schiavo's death. So for the next nine weeks, World Radio is re releasing Lawless seasons one and two remastered. It starts this weekend on this feed anywhere you get your podcasts.

[Kent Covington]

Tomorrow, Wisconsin heads to the polls to elect a new Supreme Court justice. The outcome will affect the balance of power in the state and a former bartender on a mission to meet the demand for non alcoholic beverages. That and more tomorrow. I'm Nick Iger.

[Jenny Ruff]

And I'm Jenny Ruff. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. The Bible says to you. It was shown that you might know that the Lord is God. There is no other besides him. Deuteronomy, chapter 4, verse 35. Go now in grace and peace.