powerful figure in iran, and he is not supporting any candidate and is calling for people to vote what they think and what is better for the country. he says it is there religious and national duty to vote. but he supported a hard-line president, ahmadinejad, but there has been no confirmation about that. host: how are the supporters of the losing candidates expected to react? are people concerned about any sorts of riots or confrontations afterward? guest: for the first time in the country, the mousavi supporters are going to places where they are counting votes. it is expected that if he wins,

his supporters will pour through the streets, and the police announced this morning that they will double the number of police for their security in iran, also other cities as well. so there are possibilities of some street arrests, rallies, or chaos. we are waiting for tomorrow night because they said the final votes will be announced by sunday. host: you have been reporting in your riding for reuters that the economy is a big factor in this. can you explain that a little bit? how is that influencing voters? guest: since bachmann and john was a elected in 2005, -- since ahmadinejad was elected in 2005, poor people have become poorer and the rich have become richer. inflation is very high now, at around 25%, and people are

really suffering to leave their day to day life. what the candidates are promising is that they will open up more foreign investment, which iran needs to improve its energy sector. and that that is what they are planning on. the economy is one of the main factors in this election, and one of the reasons that people even from conservative groups are voting for mousavi is that he was capable of running this country when iran had a war with iraq in 1980, and he could manage the economy. people are saying that as much as they are doing right now. this is one of the positive points for mousavi because he was capable of running the country during the war. they are voting for him because they believe he can arrange the

economy now. host: is there an expectation that iran's relationship with the united states will change much after the election? guest: iran's supreme leader, khamenei, decides on the relationship with iran and the united states. how the president will -- for example, i went in a judge has been crist -- ahmadinjejad has been criticized for what he has said about the holocaust. mousavi has said that he will be open for talks with obama. he underlined that if this is a talk based on mutual respect --

it is a time for change with no more holocaust beaches. host: that was iranian bureau chief parisa hafezi. >> every weekend, the latest nonfiction books and authors on book tv. saturday on "after words." -- sunday, joel rosenberg takes you inside the revolution, how the followers of jihadi, jefferson, and jesus are battling to dominate the middle east and transform the world. what is next for the economy?

stephen moore, arthur laffer on taxes and preston herrity. and shari olafson on the housing crunch and where it is headed. >> the government funding of college, direct aid to colleges, and students really is from the 1950's, 1960's thing, but it has grown rapidly since then. >> hillsdale college has never accepted government funding. >> title 4 of the education act is 400 pages long. we have a lawyer here in town who tries to keep the government from giving us money, and i went to ask him to send me a title for. he said it would not be any use

because i would not be able to read it. >> larry arnn, president of hillsdale college, on "q&a." host: our guest, rush ponnuru -- rahm-ponnuamesh ponnuru. >> people will also say that the deficit and the debt are skyrocketing, and that is the reason why we cannot afford to do health reform. i just want to repeat, the single biggest problem we have in terms of the debt and the deficit is health care. is medicare and medicaid. that is -- when you hear all

these projections about all these trillions of dollars and red ink got out as far as the eye can see, almost all of that is because of the increase in medicare and medicaid costs that are going up much faster than inflation. host: what is your reaction to the president's speech yesterday? guest: there is no question that health care expenses are a big driver of federal debt and federal deficits, but i think what he said is true but it is misleading because his plans and the plans being circulated on capitol hill by his allies, do not have much in the way of cost control. it is hard to come up with an example of a country that has expanded coverage while cutting costs. he may talk a lot about cost control, but the driving force on capitol hill is to expand coverage and that will cost serious money.

host: what do you envision health care reform looking like? guest: i would like to see an end to the tax penalty for buying insurance policies yourself, as opposed to getting them through your employer, so a switch away, at least a gradual switch away from employer-based insurance to individually purchased insurance, along with forms to be able to buy more affordable product on the market. host: the republican-202-737- 0001, and democrats is 202-737- 0002. for independents, 202-628-0205. you have been writing about health-care concerns. there is a lot of talk right now of course about how the government will be feeding into this. do you see any of the plant on

the table right now, being able to work out a compromise with what you're looking at? accusing the democrats will be able to negotiate blue dog coalition? guest: i think the democrats are not particularly eager for the -- i think that is understandable. they have huge margins in congress, if they want to go with what they think is the ideal policy and shut out the republicans, that is something that they can do. host: an opinion piece in "the wall street journal," the cost estimates for the democrats' health care reform have hit $1.50 trillion over a decade. guest: that is right, and government estimates tend to be underestimates. almost without exception to the initial estimates people make it and being wildly low.

host: you have also been looking of course at the nomination of judge sotomayor. what do you think it -- what effect do you think the words of newt gingrich and rush limbaugh will have on the gop electorate? there has been some backlash by republicans in elected office who are concerned about their comments. guest: newt gingrich initially described judge sotomayor as a racist and back off on that charge, and rush limbaugh has also spent a lot of time talking about her comments, about how wise latina judge would it -- would eventually make better decisions than a white male judge. i think it is a tricky issue for conservatives, and i think one of the things that is going on here is that this is a huge distraction because in fact, whether or not it makes any sense to think in terms of race and judges this way, i do not

think it is even true that her decisions had been affected by her ethnicity. she is in essence a conventional liberal, and if she were a conventional white male liberal, she would be making the same decisions on affirmative action, for example, ended is a mistake strategically for republicans to look at the first latino judge who is nominated, and end of making it a debate about race. guesti think that for senate republicans who are the key decision makers, that has always been the focus. as they become more the center stage of conservative concern about sotomayor, that is going to happen. host: our first caller is from saginaw, michigan. and it is calling on the democrats' line. good morning. thanks. you are on the air.

caller: good morning. i retired from general motors. right now they're taking a lot of stuff away from us. how is this going to help us, this open enrollment or whatever, with health care? guest: i take it that he was wondering how the health care policies i was talking about are going to help. well, i think that the key question actually is not how to help retirees in these sort of dysfunctional systems that have already set up, but how to transition to a new system that will work better for a new generation. i do not think that anything i have talked about is going to produce any cars for people who have already been in the old system, but to create something new that younger people in particular might be able to find attractive and more affordable.

host: our next caller is on the independent line. jordan is calling from portland, oregon. welcome, you are on the air. caller: thank you very much. a i was curious to hear your thoughts on bikes -- >> i was curious to hear your thoughts on the single payer system. why health care for a populace should be considered a matter for private industry, and why we should not look at it more of a socialist or a public interest standpoint. why should these things be profited upon instead of considered a matter of public interest? guest: well, that is a meet taty question. i think it is a mistake to make this division between profit and the public interest. when of the reasons for markets

worked is that the profit motive often serves the public interest. when it has not worked, that is often the result of misguided government policies structuring that market in foolish ways. i think that president obama and a lot of leading democrats made an accurate political judgment that the single payer is too far left for the american public. host: you have criticized deficit spending what do you think the economy doing right now? do you see it improving? d c signs that it might be getting better? guest: well, people who are paid to the economic forecasters do not all agree on this. there are some green shoots here. i think that in the second half of 2008, the fall of 2008 in particular, you had a real drop in monetary velocity and the speed with which money is changing hands. and you had really a consumer- driven panic, and i think that

that has really been subsiding, that consumer confidence is up. i think we are seeing job losses start to decline as well. host: our next call is from the republican line. from ohio. caller: good morning. i really hate to say this, but the ignorance and the stupidity of some people just absolutely astounds me. the single payer system that you have in canada and in europe, they actually have it placed 1.2 billion pounds into that system just to keep afloat because they have all these waiting periods. as a matter of fact, on c-span here the other day, they had a guy -- from england who was crowing about an 18-week waiting period. in canada, people had been waiting for transplants for seven years. you have the epa that they

brought up yesterday as a good -- but you have the dea that they brought up yesterday as it possibly -- i have had several surgeries that had had to pay for myself. one, i actually had a bone chard sitting through -- sitting next to a major vein. one bump, and i could have bled to death. the v.a. refused to do the surgery. you people out there who want all this stuff, you need to wake up. please. guest: when you have a government run health care systems, you can have the saving of money by rationing care. or you can have systems that do not ration care, like medicare, but the cost expenses there go

through the roof. host: what exactly is the single payer system? guest: single payer is a euphemism for a national government provision of health insurance. the government pays for all health insurance, there are not any private health insurance companies anymore. you have one entity that pays all the bills. i oppose it because, you know, i think we have got extensive experience that markets work better than government, including health care. and the single payer system would create all kinds of perverse consequences, including rationing. host: our next caller is on the independent line from new york. is it water leak at? are you with us? i think we have lost him. we will never know. hi there. caller: i am from new york.

i would like to know, does the young man had any knowledge as to whether -- i know that in the state of new york, i receive medicare and so did my husband we pay into it because we are both employees of the state or a municipality. what i would like to know is, i found out recently when i tried to pay money back to medicare for something that is run by a private company and certain areas. i would like to know whether he knows which states or if there are states besides the state of new york that pay a private company to handle medicare and medicaid guest: well, there are all kinds of private participation in the program. for example, medicare part d, which was introduced in 2003 as

part of the prescription drug benefit, allows private delivery of services and benefits, but that tends to be decided by the individual. so i am not entirely sure what the caller is asking about. i would have to know a little bit more about the details of her situation. host: our next caller is phillies from kansas city, kansas, on the democrat's lead. caller: good morning. i believe something has to be done with medicaid and medicare, but i also think there has to be something that has to be regulated somehow with a dental costs to america, in the way prices are quoted to patients because workers are paying for dental costs, but some of these programs are offering 28 e's, which means the patient pays 20% of the bill.

then the company pays 80% of the bill. we end up paying more than 20% after what is quoted to us. he has been going on for years, and i think that area needs to be looked at to see what can be done to decrease the deficit in that area. host: well, health in general suffers from a lack of transparent pricing, and i think in large part it is because it has not been allowed to be a flourishing private market the way other markets are. host: our next caller is jim on the republicans line, calling from leesburg, virginia. caller: good morning. the thing that is a little bit disturbing about this whole debate -- my company does some work with the health industry. people are terrified about what might be coming down the pike. anytime the government gets

involved with something, from vdot all the way across the state of virginia, they mess it up. it is frightening to see what this administration is planning. if they start nationalizing industries, it is going to be similar to lawsuits with doctors. doctors are not going into practice because they cannot afford a malpractice insurance. if you nationalize industry, people do not want to be capped on what they can make. in terms of the cost of health care, a lot of the illegal immigrants getting health care in our country, somebody is paying for that. that money gets recycled back into the industry, it does not just go away. guest: i think that the caller is right that illegal immigration does impose all sorts of costs on people, not just in the health-care area but also in other areas. but of course it is also the tip of an iceberg. we have a dramatically

inefficient, wasteful, and dysfunctional health care system, even leaving aside illegal immigration. host: you have mentioned that the republican party is searching for its identity after last fall's election. a usa today poll found 1/3 of republicans have an unfavorable opinion of their party. why might that be? guest: there probably is not a unified critique among that 1/3. some people are upset because they think too many republicans have been to accommodationist, too liberal, too pro-government. some people are concerned or upset because they think the party is too conservative, maybe too far to the right on social issues, for example. so you have that dissatisfaction, but you do not have that singular focus of opposition. host: how do you think the party can coalesce?

guest: i think you are seeing some: lessons in the party. -- obama is replacing bush, so the divisions that were created by bush and the bad memories and so forth are giving way to a sort of unified opposition to the obama agenda. host: do you think health care might be a part of that? it seems like republicans are finding a more unified voice on health care. we had feedback from republicans as president obama went to talk about health care yesterday in wisconsin. senator orrin hatch called the health care plan the complete liberal mishmash of ideas. guest: if there is a nearly unified or unified republican opposition to big government approach is on health care, combined with an alternative approach that addresses people's actual concerns about health care in a more market-friendly way, i think that would be

extremely important to a republican revival. it is hard to see such a revival happening is that does not take place. host: our next call, martha, on the republican line, from austin, texas. -- on the independent line, from austin, texas. caller: first of all, you made the comment about you should have private markets and the market economy works. but it does not, or we would not have to bail out gm and all those other companies. second of all, single payer would be run like medicare. medicare -- i am over 70, and it works fine. it runs at low cost, so i do not understand why you are not more or less promoting that. also, you would be given a

choice so if you wanted your own company, you could keep your own plan. but also, you need to take insurance companies out of it because insurance companies are making these huge profits. they can turn you down if you have the pre-existing condition. they can say, no, we're not going to pay for that particular procedure. we need single payer health care for all, and it would run like medicare at low cost. guest: well, medicare is currently on affordable. as president obama has saysid, t is a big drop ever of projected -- is a big driver of projected insolvency. but it does not a good -- it does not do a good job of policing fraud. it just shovels money out the door.

that increase its total cost, so i just think that the caller is wrong about what a medicare base model would mean for the country's fiscal health. host: terry joins us on the democrats' line from chicago, illinois. caller: i just want to say that i believe in what the president is trying to do. if it was easy, it would have been done a long time ago. i have seen your guest several times, and he is definitely -- i will not say right wing, but anything that involves the president, you can believe that he will be in that position. he just made the comment about medicare, why the costs are high. but the president also address that he has a plan to overhaul medicare. tell the whole story. i love c-span, but i assume you have another guest coming on that will have a different view. but i will say, people, do not just take what he says literally

because he tends to talk very negative about the president, and his view, anything about obama is going to be skewed that way. well, you know, i think that it is right that the administration claims that it is going to have all kinds of reforms and savings in medicare, but it really has not put forward a whole lot for example, there say they want $300 billion in specified savings from medicare and medicaid. well, are we supposed to just take that on faith? it is true my political views are not the same as president obama's, and more often than not i disagree with him. your caller is absolutely right. you should probably have more sources of information on most issues than just me. host: from georgia, jack is calling us on the republican line. caller: good one. let me make two or three quick statements.

this is a perfect combination to talk about obama. arbuckle national review" and "the wall street journal -" -- y god. the previous caller, you are talking to a 100% disabled. i get all my drugs delivered to me at my house. i am sitting here right now waiting for federal express to deliver them. over 50 different drugs that would cost me, at wal-mart, about $700 a month. i have had numerous operations. all i have ever paid is $8 a month. if he is paying for his own

operations, he has to be borderline retarded. the statement that people make all the time about canada patients coming to america, there is a radio that the satellite, those all over the world, there is a man that comes their every afternoon. he has a standard line open all the time for anybody from canada, england, france, who wants to call and criticized their health care system. i listen to him every night. it is a repeat every night about 7:00. i have never heard a person yet call and criticize their system. he gets a lot of calls from canada. everyone of them praises their system and say this is nothing but republican talking points. guest: ok, i have no idea what guest: ok, i have no idea what that last bit was thaabout.