9.29.25 The competing visions on the Supreme Court, restoring the dignity of work, and the Nazi “compassionate euthanasia” campaign

Summary

Podcast Summary: The World and Everything In It – September 29, 2025

Episode: "9.29.25 The competing visions on the Supreme Court, restoring the dignity of work, and the Nazi 'compassionate euthanasia' campaign"

---

Overview

This episode features in-depth coverage across three major topics:

• The Competing Philosophies on the Supreme Court: Contrasting judicial approaches and worldviews, featuring an analysis of recent speeches by Justices Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan.
• Restoring the Dignity of Work: Economist David Bonson explores the crisis of male workforce participation and its implications for American society.
• The Nazi ‘Compassionate Euthanasia’ Campaign: A historical look at the origins and horrors of Nazi euthanasia policies, resistance efforts, and their role as precursors to the Holocaust.

---

Supreme Court: Competing Judicial Visions

Segment starts: [06:07]

Key Points & Insights

• Two Worldviews:
  • Samuel Alito (Hoover Institution) and Elena Kagan (Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference) express contrasting perspectives on originalism, precedent, and the role of the Court.
  • The episode investigates whether the Constitution should be viewed as "locked" to its original meaning or as a living, evolving document.
• Originalism:
  • Defined as interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning. Both Justices addressed its significance and application.
  • Alito asserts it's "not a mechanical formula" but a “disciplined way of reading the text” ([07:48]):

    "The Constitution is a text and it should be read basically the way other texts are read. ... Was an effort to provide a structured, disciplined and restrained way of reading the Constitution." — Justice Samuel Alito [07:48]

  • Kagan acknowledges the influence of original meaning, but values the Court’s institutional voice and clarity ([08:35]):

    "If you're writing for the Court, you have to sound sort of court like…You have to give them something understandable and clear to apply…" — Justice Elena Kagan [08:35]

• Precedent/Stare Decisis:
  • The Latin phrase ("stand by the thing decided") links to respect for the Court’s past decisions ([09:09]).
  • Alito emphasizes that precedent is important, but not absolute—errors must sometimes be corrected:

    "But if it's egregiously wrong, if it has made a big practical difference, has it settled things or has it left things in an unsettled state, those are certainly all considerations that we have to take into account." — Justice Samuel Alito [09:54]

  • This logic underpinned recent reversals: e.g., Dobbs overturning Roe v. Wade, rejection of race-based college admissions ([10:07]).

    "I think that our Constitution is colorblind. ... How are we gonna hold together if we don't regard each other simply as fellow human beings, as fellow Americans, and judge people based on their individual characteristics?" — Justice Samuel Alito [10:23]

• Judicial Fortitude and Life Tenure:
  • Alito articulates the relative security of justices and the courage required to make unpopular decisions:

    "It's a lot easier for me to do that than it is for those college students that I was talking to, because I have life tenure." — Justice Samuel Alito [11:09]

• Political Pressures and Safety:
  • Kagan reflects on the dangers justices now face post-Dobbs, recalling the threat to colleagues' homes ([12:13]):

    "A gunman appeared at one of my colleagues' houses. And that is scary stuff." — Justice Elena Kagan [12:13]

  • Alito stresses that justices are volunteers, called to "stand firm" for constitutional principles, not conscripts ([12:44]).
• The “Shadow Docket” (Emergency Docket):
  • Kagan urges caution in making rapid, less-deliberated decisions ([13:35]).

    "I think we should be cautious about acting on the emergency docket... unless, you know, we really have to." — Justice Elena Kagan [13:35]

  • Alito links the uptick in emergency cases to Congressional gridlock and heightened executive action by recent presidents ([14:19]).

    "As the difficulty of getting legislation passed has increased, presidents have increasingly looked to see what they can do on their own..." — Justice Samuel Alito [14:19]

• Adapting Old Principles to New Technology:
  • The Constitution is static; its applications are not.
  • Alito, on applying originalism to modern cases:

    "The meaning of the Constitution does not change, but the world changes and the issues that come before the court change." — Justice Samuel Alito [16:24]

• Working Together and Collegiality:
  • Kagan laments divisiveness but stresses personal respect across ideological lines ([18:55]):

    "I respect them. I think that they are all operating in good faith." — Justice Elena Kagan [18:55]

  • Alito, on the pragmatism needed for majority opinions on a multimember court ([19:53]):

    "If you are on a multi member court... you have to make compromises." — Justice Samuel Alito [19:53]

---

Monday Money Beat: The Dignity of Work and Workforce Participation

Segment starts: [22:16]

Key Points & Insights

• Shocking Statistic: Nearly 7 million men of prime working age (25–54) in the U.S. are out of the workforce, not even seeking jobs—about 1 in 10 in that category ([22:35]).
• Roots of the Issue:
  • Trend is longstanding, not a temporary blip. Used to be 98% employment in this group, now 89%.
  • David Bonson frames this as a supply-side problem—a cultural drift from work and purpose, not simply a lack of jobs ([24:01]):

    "The amount of nonphysical leisure that is just basically staring at a screen that single men without kids do... It's startling." — David Bonson [24:01]

  • Overly easy access to disability and transfer payments; reform is needed as many claims are not due to physical inability ([24:01]).
• Cultural & Familial Aspects:
  • Bonson highlights the feedback loop between workforce participation and family formation:

    "Employable men are marriable and marriable men are employable." — David Bonson [30:06]

• Policy vs. Culture:
  • The solution transcends public policy—requires cultural, spiritual renewal, with churches and families playing key roles ([24:01], [27:59]).
  • Lessons from past Christian leaders (e.g., Mark Driscoll, Charlie Kirk) who resonated with aimless young men ([27:59]).
• Consequences & Wellbeing:
  • Bonson points out links to mental and physical health problems:

    "How could someone be mentally healthy, right? Sleeping until noon, smoking pot, playing video games, laying on a couch, not getting sunshine, not eating healthy, not having this spiritual call to go do something, serve others, build something. And then we say, well, everyone's self-esteem is bad. Yeah, no kidding." — David Bonson [31:36]

---

The Nazi “Compassionate Euthanasia” Campaign

Segment starts: [33:09]
Content advisory: Segment includes disturbing historical details.

Key Points & Insights

• Escalation from Sterilization to Murder:
  • In pre-WWII Germany, a registry of disabled children led to mass killing programs.
  • Hitler authorized "mercy deaths" for the incurably ill via a vague order ([35:02]):

    "This was considered compassionate, a moral pioneering effort to relieve people who were impaired and therefore suffering." — Dr. Mark Komrad [35:02], [35:14]

• Methods & Deceit:
  • Families were misled about care; children were systematically killed through narcotics, starvation, and eventually gas chambers ([35:58]).
  • Experimentation with mass killing methods preceded the Holocaust.
• Resistance:
  • Clergy and hospital leaders protested:
    • Bishop von Galen delivered forceful sermons condemning the killings:

      "You do not need a law that it is wrong to murder... That is engraved on the human heart." — Bishop von Galen (reported by narrator) [37:40]

    • These sermons circulated widely, becoming a rallying cry.
    • Hospital directors like Fritz Borderschwing and Paul Braun openly defied Nazi orders.
• Impact:
  • After protests and pushback, Hitler "officially" canceled the euthanasia program [38:55], but mass killings continued and methods were redirected against Jews and other targeted groups.
  • The “compassionate euthanasia” campaign was a direct precursor and testing ground for the mechanisms used in the Holocaust:

    "The Nazis so called compassionate euthanasia program killed more than 250,000 people. It laid the groundwork for the most well known atrocities of the Third Reich." — Caleb Weldy [39:17]

• Personal Cost of Resistance:
  • Resisters faced execution; their families were billed for the costs ([40:17]).

---

Notable Moments & Quotes

• “I think that our Constitution is colorblind. ... How are we gonna hold together ... if we don't regard each other simply as fellow human beings ... and judge people based on their individual characteristics?” — Justice Samuel Alito [10:23]
• “The amount of nonphysical leisure that is just basically staring at a screen that single men without kids do... It's startling.” — David Bonson [24:01]
• “You do not need a law that it is wrong to murder... That is engraved on the human heart.” — Bishop von Galen (as reported) [37:40]
• “The Nazis so called compassionate euthanasia program killed more than 250,000 people. It laid the groundwork for the most well known atrocities of the Third Reich.” — Caleb Weldy [39:17]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Legal Docket / Supreme Court Discussion: [06:07] – [21:07]
• Monday Money Beat / Male Workforce Crisis: [22:16] – [32:41]
• Nazi Euthanasia Program / World History Book: [33:09] – [40:42]

---

Summary

This rich episode underscores deep ideological divides shaping America’s judiciary, investigates the cultural and economic fallout of declining workforce participation among men, and provides a sobering historical lesson on how bureaucratic so-called compassion blurred into atrocity. Through expert voices, vivid storytelling, and data-driven reporting, the podcast offers listeners both context and challenge—inviting reflection on the enduring battles over law, work, dignity, and moral courage.

Transcript

[Mary Reichert]

Good morning. Two justices, two worldviews on precedent, originalism and pressures on the Supreme Court.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

How are we going to hold together if we don't regard each other simply as fellow Americans and judge people based on individual characteristics?

[Nick Eicher]

That's ahead on Legal docket. Also today, the Monday Money beat with economist David Bonson and the World History book part two on Nazi eugenics.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

This was considered compassionate, a moral pioneering effort to relieve suffering.

[Mary Reichert]

It's Monday, September 29th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichert.

[Nick Eicher]

And I'm Nick Icker. Good morning.

[Mary Reichert]

Time for the news. Here's Kent Covington.

[Kent Covington]

It appears Democrats will get their chance this week to negotiate with President Trump in hopes of avoiding a government shutdown. That could happen as soon as today. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said good news came out of a talk this weekend with House Speaker Mike Johnson.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

There had been a conversation between Republican leaders and the president and as a result, the meeting is back on.

[Kent Covington]

It comes days after President Trump said he had called off the planned meeting. But Jeffries says Democrats won't support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of the American people. Republicans, meantime, say they need to keep cutting fraud and abuse and government overspending. Speaker Johnson on Sunday discussed the upcoming meeting. The purpose of the meeting is so that the president can assemble the four.

[Nick Eicher]

Leaders, you know, the two top leaders.

[Kent Covington]

In both chambers to come in and have this discussion.

[Nick Eicher]

And I talked with him at length yesterday about this and he's going to.

[Kent Covington]

Tell Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries to.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

Stop playing political games.

[Kent Covington]

Republicans say Democrats need to help them pass a simple extension of current government funding by tomorrow night to avoid a shutdown and to allow more time for negotiations. Democrats, though, say they want immediate talks on health care and that they are willing to shut down the government if they don't get concessions. Police are investigating a deadly attack against a Mormon church in Michigan on Sunday that killed at least two people and injured eight others. Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renyi.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

He drove his vehicle through the front doors of the church. He then exited his vehicle, firing several rounds at individuals within the church.

[Kent Covington]

He said one of the wounded people was in critical condition last night. The others were stable. Police shot and killed the 40 year old suspect in a shootout. Authorities are working to determine a motive.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

We're going to do search warrants on the suspect's residence. We're going to go through cell phone records, things like that.

[Kent Covington]

The suspect is also believed to have set fire to the church building. Flames and smoke were visible for hours before the blaze was extinguished. United nations sanctions are back in place against Iran over its nuclear program. The UN Reimposed those sanctions under the snapback mechanism. France, Germany and the UK Triggered that snapback after declaring Iran out of compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. Iranian President Massoud Pejeskian on Sunday claimed that Iran is being unfairly targeted. The unfounded accusations that they're blowing out.

[David Bonson]

Of proportion is unacceptable.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

We've never sought nuclear weapons.

[Kent Covington]

We never will seek nuclear weapons. Experts note that Iran has for years enriched uranium at levels close to weapons grade well beyond what is needed for peaceful purposes. Tehran's allies China and Russia tried unsuccessfully to block the sanctions. The snapback provision freezes assets, halts arms sales and penalizes missile deployment. Democrats are sparring with the Trump administration over the indictment last week of former FBI Director James Comey. Comey stands accused of lying to Congress and obstructing a government proceeding. Democrats charge that President Trump is weaponizing the Justice Department and seeking political retribution.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

Hakeem Jeffries these charges are going to be dismissed. James Comey will win in court. But what it reflects is a broader attack on the rule of law that should frighten every single American, whether you're a Democrat, an Independent or a Republican.

[Kent Covington]

But Vice President J.D. vance shot back on Sunday, the idea.

[Caleb Weldy]

That this is driven by politics, I think is preposterous when you actually read the details of the indictment and the obvious fact that James Comey did lie under oath to Congress multiple times.

[Kent Covington]

Comey is scheduled to be arraigned on October 9th. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is dropping out of the mayoral race. The incumbent pulled the plug on his struggling reelection bid in a video message on Sunday. He blamed a campaign finance board decision that he said undermined his ability to raise the needed funds.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

Despite all we've achieved, I cannot continue my reelection campaign.

[Kent Covington]

Adams was elected as a Democrat in 2021. But amid controversies and growing disapproval within his own, Adams decided to skip the Democratic primary and mount a reelection bid as an independent. Former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo has done the same thing, mounting an independent campaign and he is still in the race. But recent polls show Democratic nominee self proclaimed socialist Zoran Mamdani leading a crowded field by nearly 20 points. I'm Kent Covington and straight ahead, pressures within the Supreme Court. And later, the Monday Money beat with David Bonson. This is the world and everything in it.

[Nick Eicher]

It's the world and everything in it for September 29, 2025. Glad you've joined us. Good morning. I'm Nick Eicher.

[Mary Reichert]

And I'm Mary Record. It's time for legal docket. Well, next week, the Supreme Court gavels in a new term with a docket packed with disputes that could shape American life for decades. But before that, we hear from two justices who capture the Court's fault line. Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan. This summer, Alito sat for an interview at the Hoover Institution. Kagan spoke at the ninth Circuit Judicial Conference. Between them, you can hear the tug of war that defines the Court. Is the Constitution locked to its original meaning or is it a living framework?

[Nick Eicher]

In the end, it's not about pure theory. It's about whose reasoning can bring a majority of colleagues along. That tug of war starts with a word you've heard in confirmation hearings and debates alike. The word is originalism.

[Historical Narrator / Expert]

You are a self professed originalist.

[Nick Eicher]

The point of originalism is strive to understand what the words on the page.

[David Bonson]

Meaning the doctrine of originalism. Well, here's what I would say about originalism now, originalism. It's very careful when you talk about originalism to understand that people are hearing.

[Nick Eicher]

Different things sometimes as if originalism belonged to a party. It doesn't.

[Justice Elena Kagan]

Either way, we apply what they meant to do. So in that sense, we are all originalists.

[Nick Eicher]

The idea that the Constitution's meaning is fixed at the time it was written. Justice Alito wears that label proudly, though as he explains, it's not a mechanical formula, but rather a disciplined way of reading the text.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

The Constitution is a text and it should be read basically the way other texts are read. We read the words, they're understandable. The English language hasn't changed that much since the late 18th century. We can figure out what it means, where it refers to legal concepts, established legal principles. We can explore what they were understood to mean at the time. And that's the way it should be interpreted. Was an effort to provide a structured, disciplined and restrained way of reading the Constitution.

[Mary Reichert]

Even though Justice Kagan has said we are all originalists now, she isn't really. What she values is the same thing the Chief justice values, the High Court's institutional voice.

[Justice Elena Kagan]

You know, if you're writing for the Court, you have to sound sort of court like, and that's partly a matter of style. This is something that's institutional and everybody in your majority has to be comfortable with it. And that imposes constraints both of style and of substance. And you have to give them something understandable and clear to apply different roads.

[Mary Reichert]

Toward One similar end rulings the public can follow.

[Nick Eicher]

If originalism is about the starting point of the Constitution, we turn to a Latin phrase to talk about its staying power.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

Stare decisis.

[David Bonson]

Stare decisis is a very important consideration.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

Stare decisis, which is a shorthand for longer Latin phrase that means stand by.

[Nick Eicher]

The thing decided and do not dec of the comm.

[Mary Reichert]

Stare decisis, the background rule of judicial maintenance of precedents.

[David Bonson]

The principles of stare decisis look at a number of factors. Settled expectations. Whether or not precedents have proven to be unworkable is another consideration.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

People like Blackstone would be astonished that when you have written law that we are applying stare decisis the way we are.

[Nick Eicher]

Stare decisis, respect for precedent. The idea is the Court shouldn't toss out its past rulings lightly in the law matters without being a straightjacket.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

But if it's egregiously wrong, if it has made a big practical difference, has it settled things or has it left things in an unsettled state, those are certainly all considerations that we have to take into account.

[Nick Eicher]

That's the logic behind reversals like Dobbs that overturned the abortion decision, Roe v. Wade. It also informed the Court's rejection of race based college admissions, the line of cases that began with regents of the University of Californ.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

I think that our Constitution is colorblind. I find it hard to see how we're gonna hold together as a country and a country with people of every race and every ethnicity. How are we gonna hold together if we don't regard each other simply as fellow human beings, as fellow Americans, and judge people based on their individual characteristics?

[Nick Eicher]

Justice Alito frames that conviction in moral terms. To hold the country together, he says, requires fortitude, especially when decisions are politically unpopular. Justices have to be courageous. And Justice Alito points to an institutional safeguard that allows the Court to stand firm.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

And to be honest, it's a lot easier for me to do that than it is for those college students that I was talking to, because I have life tenure. I've had life tenure for the past 35 years. So in my opinions, I can say what I think is right and I'm not going to get fired for doing it and I'm not going to get my pay docked. There may be other unhappy consequences that follow. But for those college students, they're, you know, they're going to have to try to hold down jobs and they may be pressured in exactly the way that I mentioned to endorse things, accept things, say things that they know. Are wrong. And I hope they will have courage. I hope they will have fortitude.

[Mary Reichert]

Life tenure is meant to insulate justices from politics, but it can also inadvertently raise the stakes. Because when a seat is meant to be for life, unstable people sometimes imagine the only answer is violence. Justice Kagan recalled that very danger in the aftermath of Dobbs.

[Justice Elena Kagan]

And that's something that my court dealt with actually a few years ago when Dobbs came down, when some of my colleagues, my colleagues on the majority side, were confronted with protests outside their houses, including houses with children in them, and a gunman appeared at one of my colleagues houses. And that is scary stuff.

[Mary Reichert]

Justice Alito does not downplay the danger, but for him, the weight of the office tips the scales. Justices are not conscripts, but conservators of.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

Our constitutional order, the Supreme Court aptitude test that everybody takes. And so the person who gets the highest score gets the nomination. It's like being struck by lightning. It's a great privilege. Nobody forces us to take the job or keep the job. But if you really love the Constitution and our system of government and want to preserve it, then I do think you have to stand firm.

[Mary Reichert]

Another phrase you've likely heard tossed, shadow docket. That's shorthand for those cases the court needs to decide quickly, regrettably, in the shadows, without full briefing and oral argument of the regular legal docket. You'll hear senators and commentators using the phrase frequently pejoratively. Justice Kagan once used the phrase, but now prefers one less loaded emergency docket.

[Justice Elena Kagan]

There are some times that there are emergencies and we have to do something without all the briefing and the argument and the consultation and so forth. I think we should be cautious about acting on the emergency docket. And so one should be hesitant about making decisions without any of those things in a way that does disrupt what's going on in the lower courts. Unless, you know, we really have to.

[Nick Eicher]

As for Justice Alito, he agrees fast action can't be avoided at times. But he traces the surge in emergency cases to a deeper cause, Congressional gridlock. And as presidents become more assertive, challenges pile up.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

So as the difficulty of getting legislation passed has increased, presidents have increasingly looked to see what they can do on their own. If you go back to 2014, President Obama famously said, well, I'm not going to depend on trying to get legislation through Congress. I have my phone and I have a pen. So the pen was what he could do. Executive orders, rules, other executive directives under President Biden that increased. And we had a number of cases Here involving the unilateral exercise of executive power by the Biden administration for giving up to $500 billion of student loans. Requiring all the participants in Medicare and Medicaid to require their employees to be vaccinated. Directing Texas to take down the barbed wire it had strung across the border. Requirements imposing a moratorium on evictions in areas that were hard hit by Covid. By my count, we have 14 emergency applications filed by the Solicitor General during the Biden years and now during the first, what is it, four or five months of the Trump administration. I mean, the graph keeps going up and up. So the presidents exercise their executive power in an assertive way. And that's immediately challenged in district court, sometimes by coalitions of attorneys general from states where the majority is not favorable to whatever, to what the President is doing. And that's what we're getting.

[Nick Eicher]

Here's another challenge. The Constitution was written in the 18th century, but today's cases involve things like drones and smartphones, even thermal imaging guns. Yet Justice Alito doesn't see originalism as a museum piece of it works by drawing analogies from old principles to solve new problems.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

The meaning of the Constitution does not change, but the world changes and the issues that come before the court change. And so it's important to understand that originalism is not a scientific formula that yields a result. Mechanically, if you just feed in the variables, you sit back and it produces a result. I'll give you an example. In 1791, when the Fourth Amendment was adopted, there were no thermal imaging devices. 2001, the court had a case called Killow, and the question was whether a police officer seated in a car on a public street where he had every right to be, was searching a house. If the officer focused a thermal imaging device on the house, could see through the wall and detect heat emitting objects inside the house. So you can't look at the world as it existed in 1791 to see what people thought about thermal imaging devices. They didn't exist. So you have to draw an analogy. Was that situation more like a police officer on a public street looking through an open window, not blocked by shades or drapes, and seeing what goes on inside? That is not a search. Is it more like that or is it like a full blown search where officers go inside the house and they can see things that are not visible through a window that the homeowner has left unshaded?

[Nick Eicher]

In the end, a bare 5 to 4 majority ruled that aiming a thermal scanner at a house is a search, meaning that Police needed a warrant before doing it. The decision reinforced the Fourth Amendment shield around the home, even against technologies the founders could never have imagined. Where modern Justices need imagination is to discern foundational principles, which is why Justice Alito calls himself a modified originalist. The meaning of the Constitution doesn't shift with the times, but applying it to today's facts demands judgment, care, and sometimes creative analogies.

[Mary Reichert]

For all the clashes over method and meaning, Justice Kagan pulls the focus back to the institution itself, reminding us that justices, whatever their philosophy, must still work together.

[Justice Elena Kagan]

I've noticed that there is some disagreement on the Court, and you know the disagreement. You know, there are different ways in which we disagree. And sometimes the divisions are one thing, and sometimes the divisions are another. You know that there are some number of cases, which are six, three cases on this Court. They used to be sort of five, four cases. And, you know, I don't enjoy that. I find it frustrating. I find it disappointing. I find it sometimes even maddening. I mean, it's just, it's just a fact of the matter that this sometimes happens on cases that I care strongly about. On the other hand, I like all my colleagues on one side of the Court, if you want to talk sides, no less than on the other, I respect them. I think that they are all operating in good faith.

[Mary Reichert]

Alito agrees. On a court made up of many members, principle meets pragmatism. Persuasion, compromise, and precedent are all part of the work.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

If you are on a multi member court and you are trying to produce an opinion that at least four of your colleagues will agree with, you have to make compromises. And scholars. Sometimes they jointly write a book or an article, but much of the time they write on their own and they don't have to worry about pleasing anybody else. So that is a big difference. In a system of precedent, after a case is decided against you, let's say the Court makes a decision and I'm in dissent and now another case comes along that is similar, so the earlier decision is cited as a precedent. I have to make a decision. Do I say, I'm sticking to my guns, you were wrong before, or do I say, well, I thought you were wrong, I still think you were wrong, but I'll accept for present purposes that that is the governing decision and then try to make decisions the best of that prior precedent. So those are two examples of ways in which being an originalist judge is quite a bit different from being an originalist law review article. It is tricky.

[Mary Reichert]

It involves judgment, different paths, but both bound to the same oath and to the same rule of law. And that's this week's legal docket.

[Kent Covington]

Additional support comes from Asbury University where students are known, supported and prepared to lead customized visits. Available asbury. Edu visit from Bar Barnabas Aid providing hope and support for our suffering brothers and sisters around the world. Aid from Christians through Christians to Christians [e-mail] and from watersedge offering church building loans that are ministry backed, ministry built and ministry bound watersedge.com loans.

[Mary Reichert]

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

[Nick Eicher]

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. David, good morning.

[David Bonson]

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

[Nick Eicher]

Well, David, you highlight something in this week's Dividend Cafe I think should shock us all that in the United states today, nearly 7 million men between the ages of 25 and 54, these are the prime working years. These men are out of work and they are no longer looking to change that. And the number is stark. It doesn't hit you quite the same way a percentage might, at least for me, 7 million young men in the United States, that just clobbers me when I hear it. It's 1 in 10 of the entire male workforce in that key age bracket. And historically that's been the group that's been fully employ, 98% as you say. Now it's down to 89%. And this is no data blip. It's a secular trend. It's a generational shift. So let's talk about what's driving that and what it might mean for our economy and our culture. So let me ask it this way. We hear policymakers talking about jobs. You've pointed out that they frame it as a demand side issue. There are not enough opportunities, et cetera and so forth. But you say, David, that the real problem is not demand but supply, that millions of men are simply opting out or just giving up. So if we took that seriously, starting with a policy question, what would a truly supply side labor policy even look like?

[David Bonson]

Well, I think that the problem in answering the supply issue from a policy standpoint is that it's a combination of what is public policy and then let's call it cultural policy. In other words, I think that this is never going to be fixed only with public policy. Churches play a role here, the families and what kind of device management they have. You know, I make the point that the amount of non physical Leisure that is just basically staring at a screen that single men without kids do. And I put a chart and a study from University of Maryland that came out last year on it. It's startling. You know, there's issues of concern here in trajectory across all sorts of demographics. But I highlight this issue with prime working age men because the data highlights it. It's 65.2 million men in our country that are between 25 and 54. And you have a certain amount of people that are removed because of severe disability or whatnot. But basically when you get to the labor participation force, that inactivity is 10.9%. That's where we're getting the 7 million. And it's a trajectory over time. What we're talking about here is non recessionary, isolating, just men who are able bodied and seeing this trend. And I don't know how anybody can deny that it's become a systemic, secular problem. And when we look at public policy, I would suggest that one of the things that is screaming in our face is reform of the social safety net, the access to disability. When people are healthier, they're living longer. The percentage of people taking disability claims in white collar jobs is just as high as blue collar. So this isn't related to a physical injury from the workforce. Now, do those things happen? Of course they do. They've always happened. And I think society needs to have solutions for people that have some sort of physical inability to work. And I understand that. But do I believe that we've had that kind of an increase in mental infirmity? I do not. And yet the very, very liberal access to disability benefits is a massive problem. And I think a lot of people are afraid to talk about it, but I would add other forms of transfer payments. So how are they able to get by being removed from the workforce and answering a question on a survey, do you want to work? No, I do not. That inactivity, I think, is a major problem. It does not speak to 100% of the gap, but it speaks to a very, very high percentage. And it leads me to believe that we face the possibility of a worker shortage across varying degrees of skilled and lower skilled professions that would have a tremendous impact on our economy.

[Nick Eicher]

You know, I'm really amazed. And we talked about this before we went on the air. David, you pulled these statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics report. This is the thing that we always look to each month to get the unemployment rate. This is publicly reported, publicly available, and I wonder if this is not why Charlie Kirk had The success that he had, he really did resonate with young men he said were purposeless and drifting. And then you heard his widow, Erica Kirk, forgive that young man. She emphasized that young man. She was describing the kinds of guys Charlie was trying to build into. And it's fascinating that this manifests itself in this way, yet it's such an unreported story.

[David Bonson]

Well, I think that one of the reasons it isn't talked about more when the data is also readily available is because believing we have a demand side issue is constantly begging for government intervention. That's the Keynesian approach, is we need to stimulate aggregate demand that creates more jobs. So let's go do a public works project, let's do a CHIPS act, let's do an infrastructure bill, let's do government spending. These things all drive some form of demand and we want to always make sure we don't have a job shortage. And certainly I'm all for having a robust economy that doesn't lack for jobs. I happen to believe that when our country has traditionally had those moments, they proved to be very short lived because we have so much anti fragility in our robust free enterprise system. But see, the thing I'm talking about calls it a cultural and spiritual epidemic that doesn't allow for an easy fix of let's pass this law. You know, Charlie Kirk is a really good example in the more recent years. But I would argue, Nick, you could go back some of us old enough to remember mark Driscoll's popularity 20 to 25 years ago. It was very similar, an appeal to somewhat disenfranchised young men. And so the church has been aware of this for a long time now. Is the church promoting earlier marriages, work habits, self reliance, self discipline, a robust ambition? I don't know that we are not to the degree we ought to be.

[Nick Eicher]

Well, David, so coming back to this, the idea that 37% of inactive men are married compared to 58% of men over that is really something to take note of. And I want to ask whether you see family breakdown as the cause of this. This is, I guess the chicken or egg question. Is family breakdown the cause of men leaving the workforce or is it a withdrawal from work that causes the family decline?

[David Bonson]

Yes, and it's not an evasive answer. But this is part of my economic worldview that I find ingrained in Scripture that all things are either negative or positive feedback loops. We are constantly and forever when it comes to our productive activity, either creating virtuous or vicious cycles. And it is irrelevant what exactly happened? First, like in 1968, men adopted a bad attitude towards family and then the work thing came next. The point is these things are feeding on each other and self reinforcing in the worst possible ways. And I've used this line many, many times that employable men are marriable and marriable men are employable. Look, there's going to be issues that come up sometimes even with married men. There's going to be incredibly productive guys that are single of course. But what I'm looking for is this anti fragility where you build robustness. When a man tragically, sadly, unfortunately loses his job and is married, there is an embedded incentive to go replace the work. I mean, I often say I didn't become a man until I got married because even though I was a pretty responsible worker pre married and had been through a lot in my life already, I didn't know the degree of responsibility that came with caring for another whom you love unconditionally. That provides a whole different approach to life and it motivates you in your work, it motivates you in your calling, it causes you to think about more serious, important things. But I can understand, even as a very driven, focused guy I've been in my life, I can understand why a pre married man loses his job and becomes disgruntled, disenfranchised and can find solace with video games. And I'll tell you, there's a lot of other repercussions that are outside of my portfolio here besides the culture and the economic side. Just getting into the health of it. People talk about, well, mental health. How could someone be mentally healthy, right? Sleeping until noon, smoking pot, playing video games, laying on a couch, not getting sunshine, not eating healthy, not having this spiritual call to go do something, serve others, build something. And then we say, well, everyone's self esteem is bad. Yeah, no kidding.

[Nick Eicher]

Gotta turn that around. David Bonson is founder, managing partner and chief investment officer at the Bonson Group. He writes regularly for World Opinions. He writes for dividendcafe.com as well. David, thank you and have a great week.

[David Bonson]

Thanks so much, Nick.

[Nick Eicher]

Today is Monday, September 29th. Good morning, this is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Nick Iker.

[Mary Reichert]

And I'm Mary Reichard. Up next, the world history book.

[Nick Eicher]

Now before, before we begin, a warning. The story contains disturbing details and may not be suitable for younger listeners.

[Mary Reichert]

We began last week with sterilization programs both in the US and Germany. Today the story darkens. How Nazi Germany moved from sterilization to killing its own disabled children and adults. Here's Caleb Welde.

[Caleb Weldy]

It begins with a registry. Two weeks before Germany invades Poland, doctors, nurses and midwives are told they must register all children under three. Then the registration requirements expand.

[Historical Narrator / Expert]

Old age homes, asylums, sanitariums, hospitals, clinics.

[Caleb Weldy]

Beth Greekpaleli for the Midwest center for Holocaust Education.

[Historical Narrator / Expert]

And the directors of these institutions are instructed. You are to take a questionnaire and fill it out for every single individual in your care.

[Caleb Weldy]

There's no explanation given. Caregivers can see. The forms are going to the Reich Committee for the Scientific Registration of Severe Hereditary and Congenital Illnesses.

[Historical Narrator / Expert]

And I will tell you that the bureaucrats are amazed at how easy they can find willing participants.

[Caleb Weldy]

When people are interviewed, they're told specifically what their job will be. Some are wary of the legal implications. There's no law in Germany that allows the government to kill people they deem disabled. Hitler pens a short statement. The full text is one sentence long, saying, incurable patients may be granted a mercy death.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

This was considered compassionate.

[Caleb Weldy]

Dr. Mark Komrad is a medical ethicist and he teaches at Johns Hopkins. He's also served two terms on the ethics committee of the American Psychiatric Association.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

A moral pioneering effort to relieve people who were impaired and therefore suffering.

[Caleb Weldy]

But according to the Nazis, not everyone deserves mercy.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

Jews were excluded because Jews were not considered worthy of compassionate relief of suffering.

[Caleb Weldy]

Doctors begin reaching out to parents of children with incurable diseases and disabilities. They tell them about new cutting edge care facilities.

[Historical Narrator / Expert]

Now, of course, they're lying to the parents, right, because there isn't going to be any care given to those children.

[Caleb Weldy]

As registrations pour in, doctors begin experimenting on the most effective way to kill them.

[Justice Samuel Alito]

So first they tried narcotics and barbiturate injections and they didn't work very well. They tried starvation and freezing. That was too slow. Then they tried firing squads, but that caused a problem because the soldiers were getting ptsd.

[Caleb Weldy]

Having just blitzkriegged through Poland, the Nazis begin experimenting with gas chambers using Polish patients. They bring what they learn back to Germany and begin gassing their own citizens. Families receive fake cause of death letters, but things aren't adding up.

[Historical Narrator / Expert]

And they begin to say, well, now wait a minute. I had just been to visit my mother two days ago, so how can she be dead?

[Caleb Weldy]

It becomes an open secret.

[Historical Narrator / Expert]

Children sang songs about hide when you see the gray bus.

[Caleb Weldy]

Patients are always taken away in gray buses with blacked out windows. On July 13, 1941, a Catholic bishop named Van Galen has had enough. Van Galen is the bishop of Munster, a city of about 100,000. He gets up in front of his congregation and says he's changed the topic of today's message. He begins to air his grievances, specifically calling out the Gestapo more than 10 times. He knows there are Gestapo informants in the room. When the next Sunday arrives, he preaches a second sermon against the Nazis, more stirring than the first. He quotes an 18th century dissident who put it like this. My head is at your majesty's disposal, but not my conscience. A week later, Van Galen spends his entire third sermon talking about the open secret.

[Historical Narrator / Expert]

You do not need a law that it is wrong to murder, he says. That is engraved on the human heart.

[Caleb Weldy]

Copies of the sermon quickly spread through Germany and beyond.

[Historical Narrator / Expert]

The British Psychological Warfare Division picks up the speech. And they translate excerpts of the speech into every major European language. And they leaflet it from airplanes all over Europe.

[Caleb Weldy]

Van Galen isn't the only one speaking out. Fritz Borderschwing runs a large hospital for disabled kids. When he refuses to hand over kids, the hospital is bombed. The Nazis issue a warrant for his arrest. But then the regional Nazi manager refuses to actually arrest him, sending it up the chain. That bottleswing is extremely popular in his province. Paul Braun directs the Hofningstahl Institute for the Handicapped. He sends a letter to Hitler personally, also refusing to hand over kids. He sends copies of his letter to pastors across Germany. Three weeks after von Galen gives his third political sermon, Hitler officially cancels the euthanasia program. Though individuals had spoken out against it, there were never large scale protests.

[Historical Narrator / Expert]

And Hitler really learned from that. If German people would not rise up and take to the streets to protest the murder of people they professed to love, then are you really going to take to the streets to protest social outcasts like the Jews? Probably not.

[Caleb Weldy]

The Nazis so called compassionate euthanasia program killed more than 250,000 people. It laid the groundwork for the most well known atrocities of the Third Reich. In 1942 alone, the year after Hitler canceled the program, more than a million Jews were ushered into gas chambers. Zyklon B pellets fall from vents in the ceiling, causing vomiting, convulsions and foaming at the mouth. As the chemical simultaneously attacks the heart, the brain and the nervous system. And the Nazis don't forget those who stood up against their hygiene program in 1943. They behead three priests and a Protestant pastor who had circulated von Gallen's sermons. The Nazis then send the pastor's wife Bill for her husband's court costs, prison costs and execution costs. For World, I'm Caleb Weldy.

[Nick Eicher]

Tomorrow, the James Comey indictment. What is the legal substance? And the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is changing. We'll explain what's new and why it matters. That and more tomorrow. I'm Nick Eicher.

[Mary Reichert]

And I'm Mary Reichert. The world and everything in it comes from World Radio. World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates and inspires. The Bible says, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight. Verses 20 and 21 of Isaiah, chapter 5. Go now in grace and peace.