WORLD Radio Rewind

PAUL BUTLER: This is WORLD Radio Rewind: a 10-minute review of our news coverage and features from the past week on WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

Each Monday, financial advisor David Bahnsen joins host Nick Eicher to discuss the latest economic news. This past Monday, the markets were closed due to Memorial Day, so Nick and David discussed the U-S projected deficit for 2022—just under $2 trillion.

NICK EICHER: ...under the budget plan, “Debt held by the public would rise to [almost 112 percent of GDP] in 2022, surpassing the level seen in the wake of World War II. Debt would continue to rise in the following years, reaching 117 percent of GDP in [the year] 2031.”

That’s a pretty heavy load.

DAVID BAHNSEN: Yeah, the conversation, I agree is somewhat important, regardless of the details.

What's really important about you said, by the way, that'd be the smallest deficit next year that we've had in the last few years. The point is, next year, they're projecting that deficit post COVID, without COVID Bill Three, COVID Bill Two, COVID Bill One, and infrastructure bill, etcetera.

Just in a normal pro-forma of the United States P&L, they are projecting with no wars going on, and in substantial economic recovery, deficits of well over a trillion dollars. And that's after we had a run in about a two year period $5 or $6 trillion combined deficit on top of the national debt, we entered COVID with a $21 trillion.

I think that the point is, there's no austerity, that's gonna fix it. There's no Medicare or Social Security reform coming there or being proposed or being discussed in even the most remote of ways.

And my view is that such debt represents a continued deceleration of growth of the American economy, which continues to exacerbate inequality, socially, and otherwise cultural inequality. For the very kind of obvious reason: that rich, successful people are incredibly resourceful at navigating their way through such times. And most people lack the resources to do such navigation. And that's what I expect to happen for years and years to come.

For our second story, during his address to Congress last month, President Biden unveiled a massive expansion of public education. He says more schooling for increasingly younger students will lead to better social and educational outcomes. But is that true? WORLD’s Leigh Jones reports.

STEVENS: Pre-K attendance is telling us something about the kind of parents that children have.

LEIGH JONES, MANAGING EDITOR: Katharine B. Stevens researches education and early childhood development. She says studies showing the educational benefits of early schooling have more to do with the families those children come from.

STEVENS: Which is not to say that all parents who care deeply about education are sending their children to pre K. We know that those are the parents who especially care about education. And we see the evidence of that throughout the rest of children's school experience.

Stevens says the president’s proposal is looking to the wrong solution for a legitimate problem.

STEVENS: In our society, we've come to conflate human development with schooling. And so now, when we're thinking about early development, we're mistakenly thinking that means early schooling. But early schooling is not what young children need for optimal development.

PAUL BUTLER: For our third story today, during the last two weeks of May, twenty-five college-aged students attended WORLD Journalism Institute. It’s a two-week intensive journalism course taught by WORLD journalists and staff.

One student who attended was Lillian Hamman. She’s a recent graduate from Berry College, and she produced a short radio story on an Iowa Gold-Star mom who lost her son 15-years ago this Memorial Day:

LEUSINK: You can remember every aspect of that day. You are told that if they're injured, you'll get a phone call. If they show up at your door, they're killed.

LILLIAN HAMMAN, CORRESPONDENT: It’s been 15 years since two Marines knocked on Elaine Leusink’s door with news every military family dreads.

LEUSINK: And then they read you this official notice. And your brain just goes to please let them have the wrong house, let them have made a mistake.

Eventually she’d receive a keepsake she hadn’t sought - but that has become a treasured possession: an American flag, folded in honor of her son, killed in Iraq a week before Memorial Day 2006. On Memorial Day 20-21, the pain of loss remains.

LEUSINK: It still hurts, and it always will. And when it's one of your children, it's supposed to, it's not just supposed to go away, and it won't.

William Leusink—his friends call him B.Jay.

B.Jay served as a radioman. To his fellow Marines, the heart of the squad. To the enemy, a prime target. It was May of 2006 Iraqi fighters had hidden an IED—improvised explosive device. It triggered and mortally wounded 21-year-old B.Jay. On May 22nd, he died from his injuries.

LEUSINK: God knew what he was doing. He was even on the battlefield. And he was with him the whole time. And we're aware of that. And we hear stories and we hear things and we hear other military boys that he was touching. And, and it, it's all part of it. It's all part of that plan.

The journey now is to bear this searing hole in the Leusink family and it has required depending solely on faith in God and in His plan.

LEUSINK: We can't fathom going through this walk without God in the picture. And, and it helps us at least know your children are a gift from God. And when he says it's time for them to come home, it's time for them to go home. And so we don't live our lives bitterly. BJ wouldn't want that. He would want us to enjoy this life. And that's what he believed in. And that's why he did what he did.

PAUL BUTLER: Our last story from this past week is from WORLD Correspondent Jenny Rough. She reported from Franklin, Tennessee, on a unique physical therapy program for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

JENNY ROUGH, REPORTER: Another one of Zewdie’s students: 69-year-old Christy Tudor. Two and a half years ago, Tudor noticed a tremor in her left hand.

CHRISTY TUDOR: I was playing on my phone. And I noticed my hand was shaking, you know. I'm going, Oh, gosh, I've got some computer, play Nintendo disease or something, you know, that people are on their phone too much.

Then, another symptom.

TUDOR: As I walked, my left foot would drag.

Soon after, a Parkinson’s diagnosis. Her doctor gave her a prescription for medication. And this advice:

TUDOR: He says you've got to exercise and exercise hard. … Your brain will get the signal to your muscles to move and to do things.

So Tudor joined a boxing class.

Zewdie says non-contact boxing is a total body workout.

ZEWDIE: Boxing is really helps for everything … It helps for your coordination, for your speed, agility, strength, and your balance … for your stamina.

All that can help prevent falls, a high risk for Parkinson’s patients. But the benefits are not limited to physical fitness. The exercises help with brain function, too. Instead of calling out the combinations—jab, cross, duck, hook—Zewdie makes his students memorize them.

ZEWDIE: Number 4!

AUDIO: [Two Punches. Pause.]

ZEWDIE: No. Come on, come on. I’m not going to say number four. Go! Number 4! … Number 3.

TUDOR: That's the hardest part for me. I think for everybody, you know, switching combinations.

About a year after she started boxing, Tudor noticed significant improvements. No more hand tremor. No more foot drag.

TUDOR: And so that has stopped. Since I've been boxing, almost all my symptoms have gone away.

PAUL BUTLER: To hear the complete stories featured today, visit our website: wng.org. And check in each day for the latest news, features, and commentary from WORLD Newsgroup. Again that address is wng.org. For WORLD Radio, I’m Paul Butler.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.