i have not seen you since then. what have you been doing. >> i guess i'm a her mit. i was thinking about all the things we talked about back then. even back then, i was mostly interested in issues like international monetary reform. i was turning working mostlyó7ú the soviet union. my husband and i live on a farm, just the right distance from washington, about an hour and 20 mounts. my personality is to just hideaway in my little-ons office in my xouter. >> we are going to show some of the past interview we did. before we did that, let's go  through some basics.

where were you born? >> los angeles. where did you go to school? >> in the value. i'm really kind of the classic valley girl of los angeles. >> what kind of a family was it? >> great family. five kids. mom, very traditional, wonderful, stayed at home. i thought it was sort of glam rows that my dad went out the door with a broef case. >> i know you got a phd from the university of ut? >> 1981. i went two years to ucla, i left home, wednesday police officer portland state university, which i quickly found out when you are paying for college yourself, i

started working. that's when i got serious. from then on i was a very serious student. i was offered a job at payne web shall that took me to stalt lake city. >> wrote a paper that some kindly professor decided was good enough to schmidt on my behalf to a competition i ended up getting a post doctor alá

position i started thinking why is it that defense spending is costing u.s. taxpayers so much

money and then we are turning around and making loans to the soviet economy and supplying goo goods. it all become sort of a policy issue. this paper turned no a book with the title that was called "the coming soviet crash. it said on paper, this country is going bankrupt. it got interesting. >> i remember seeing you give a speech on this network in 1989, i thought it would be useful to lay things out the way gorbachev must be looking at them so that

we have an overall feel for the requirements, the cost and the sense of what is needed to get it off the ground. >> when we were doing the book show. we asked you to come. we visited for one hour. i want to show the audience and you several clips maybe what with youer talking about back then. on november 9, 1989. it was the fall of the wall. that was 20 years ago. let's see what you said back then. >> what do you think of the soviet union? >> i think it's an idea that went wrong. economically, i think it's doomed. i don't say that with glee. i've been to the soviet sof yet union for a couple of weeks.

i like it had very much. i was treated very nicely. i like russian language and literature. one problem with the book is that i've had this sense of people thinking that i want to so the soviet union to collapse. i don't like the sof yet government and the emphasis on military strength as its claim to scoop ever power status. i think it's misplaced. f >> i still like rish r russia. what they found out is you cannot remain a viable country and surpresident individual pursuit of prosperity.

it's funded by congress to the state department with an independent board. who runs it? >> the board and our staff. what we do is take grant money. approximately $110 million a year. we have over 1,000 projects. we never tell people in another country what they should be doing. we think the best formula for people is democracy.

that is fair elections, honest elections. rule of law, right to assemble. the nationalen downment is compris comprised. they represent the min party and labor sinter representing union. who nominated you for the board? >> i was asked by vin weber who was the chairman. who is the charm now? >> now gip eckhardt. they always make sure there's the same number of republicans and democrats. when the white house changes, they do change from chairman to

voice chairman to reflect the party in power does >> do they pay you? >> no. >> do they pay the chairman? >>, i don't think so. they come to us. they make sure they are legitimate and have what they need to comply with the requirement $. we do a lot of good in funding people willing to take the risk.

anyone who has ever been sin cal about government should talk to our grant ys give us one example of your e bees on four years. one of the great successes was ukraine. russia very much rented the work of ned -- ned helped support the group of the revolution. he said this will not stand. they just refused to leave the

streets until there was a run offer. he's the man who if you remember the intoxication yins. his whole face was destroyed. he rose to lead to ukraine toward nato and the european union. things have been rough in

ukraine. if i was going to advice the soviet government, what they could do to take part of the international monetary system. i think the soviet union's only claim to credibility with western financial sight is to provide collateral behind a currency

>> what happened to their gold in the last 20 years. they should is done that. i wish i would have fought harder. it was tho august everything fell apart by december 1991, the soviet union was no more.

they gave people a very bad taste for capitolism. throughout the 1990s, russia was re real really grasping with disaster. it turned out we were worst off under so-called capitolism. i think even now if your

currency has integrity, you can build on it. russia had a disaster in 1999. ÷ there was a complete default. it put russia on the lifeline to the imf, which is also respented >> what is the imf. jo the international monetary fund. it was set up a week after pearl

harbor was bombed. everyone tried make their currencies cheap so that they would have an advantage when they sold in another country. we'll show leadership. the imf came out of that. they had one main job. it was to have a stable monetary system. fixed exchange rates. they would have to be fixed relative to the dollar.

the dollar would be conservable to gold at a fixed rate. jo any other country back up their currency with gold today sno >> no. instead of fighting to maintain a stable monetary system or figure out how to get back to

one also almost reverse. they spit on virlt you'lly all the gold. mentioned earlier. in my recollection, jack camp was a gold supporter. >> you were involved if power america. ken was a visionary.

what you don't want to do is inhibit that. all (yours really want does is good solid rules.

>> people would say we are in the mess we are in today because of the growth in the 1980s. >> completely turned us around. our best days were behind us. what we learned under the reagan administration is that the potential for economic growth is still there.

the two big parts were to stabilize it to get rid of deflags. that's what we did. it took a real kweezing out. it was to have a stable honest dollar and give people a chance to be enter (you ares. it wasn't worth it. you lower taxes, you were

finally recognizing the heroism of entrepreneurs i'm not sure i lay the society. the people i met happy enough. they had that russian character iz kick of being redesigned. theyer more passive than

americans. you wouldn't begin to see irritation like you would in the united states. >> they had a taste of freedom. there still are certain resignation. they probably accept what's imposed on them much more readily than americans. i am so graduate americans don't have that trait.

it's not just about making money it's not just because you can't necessarily be the wedgeiest person. it's that you can't fulfill your own dreams. the lifeliness of a dynamic society comes from a sense of well we don't know exactly

there's a sense of the possibility of being successful. if you like freedom, that's what you live more. that's the froe document to bring to bear on any society. do you hear a lot of complaints in the west. all the airlines went broke. what happened here then.

it's competition. as much as we had about how capitolism broke. what else would we want? it is people willing to set up a service business or produce something. they'll make a profit and do better.

it is also a society that pays attention to the fellow man. it brings to bear all of the forces of free markets. that's what i believe in. >> i vo not seen you on television. do you not do these shows for a reason? >> i think it is night to speak in depth. i don't think i'm a good sound bite purpose. >> do you avoid them on purpose. >> i don't avoid them but don't often %gsaccept.

the wall street journal has been great. i know we need strong political categories. i think i'm much more the kind who is sitting in jeans and t-shirt pounding away on my keyboard. i will sometimes come in and moat with snartz at the capitol and talk about where we are going as far as the dollar. i love to do that. david walker who used to run the

gao says we cannot grow out of this situation we are in now. is that true? stt first time in our history? we had tough times before where we are con fronted with the loss of war financially as welt as what it does to the spirit. i want to say the country is resilient enough to come out of this.

it's the kind of debt thomas jefferson was the last thing he would ever want to wish on this country. the burden is set by the government without the scomplesed permission. we elect the people we do. at some point, i think you can kill the goose that laid the golden egg. i can see where they say iechl dropping out, i'm going ton strike because the country doesn't appreciate the risk i

which politician has been the most respectful. >> jack kemp. the senator frr dakota, south carolina. very pleased with the new governor of virginia. he is talking about free enterprise and the american dream. those are people that come to

mind. he is the father of supply side economics they have a tremendous castle. since the dollar went off of gold, he has a fantastic gathering of economists from all over the world talking about how can we ever get back to say stable system.

whatever china comes up with, some kind of a uron that's sustainable. >> when the euro was created. now $1.50 the other way around.

because of 50% in that time span. that tells you that the swinging currencies want the impact of a terrif. when you have a swing of a currency of 50%. you have just made your computers products 50 pres more sxepsive the u.s. now having a

weak dollar it's very unseemly to do that. >> one of the things an amateur like me doesn't know is who is making the money. the people who make money are speculators. the amount of money you would have to convert to carry out

international trade is less than 5% of the currency market. what bothers me is we turn money into a lottery instead of a tool. it would be like having a ruler. you could never have this remarkable way of having a

value. you don't have that basic foundation. >> and you are married to a banker? >> i am -- well, a former banker. lucky for me, got out of banking. he is a fellow farmer. this morning, he was up in a tree stand watching deer. didn't shoot any. it's a different life. it's not a washington life. >> you did spend time in mexico? >> yes. i taught at a dprad wat school

of business it was started by one of the billionaires of mexico. a man whose dprand father was the grandfather of mexico. he set up in monterrey mexico. had all u.s. faculty. he would ply them in to take up residence at the school. did the school make it? >> it did a few years.

>> it was very expensive. he was pretty much footing the bill for students. some went on to fantastic years. some went on to careers at harvard. i know but >> through the years prior to that, it would be the person in charge of the editorial page.

i started getting just a little email. do you have anything to say on this? i think the first few times. in 1995 and asia in 1998. whenever the u.s. dollar has been going through thejmz throwf ago any. i wish we had a neutral reserve aspect. something neutral.

what i'm saying is money is a tool. not something that descended from heaven. we live under legal tender laws. jo do they pay you to do that? >> the journal? >> yes. >> i think it's gone over the

years from $150 to the one they ran a week or so ago, i got $600. you could not make a living. >> they ask forehow many words? >> 1200. let's listen to what you had to say. >> i've always liked the literature. i'm trying to memorize a day in the life. i have tape it's of his resiting his work. >> in russian and english.

>> i have the work in russian and english. every morning for an hour, i start reciting what i've memoriesed so far and adding onto it and wokking my way through the book. >> why? >> it's a great pleasure. i think the way you get a >> how long wasúdp the day in t life? >> 109, maybe.

speaking in foreign language >> have you gone back to this? you still read russian? >> yes. the new president. i think he is different from

putin i read what he has to say everyday. he has video of him self. russian and english. that's a good way. can you read it in both languages, watch the video. . you can get transcripts in english and russian. here's what you were doing at your hoax an hour from washington. >> we contracted with a gentleman that set up a saturday light system for columbia to listen in on soviet sell krigs

it involves a big dish and little computer. it is the satellite is not stationary. it keeps moving. the trick is to get a system that it follow it and track it. our disc now wired to this computer, does a little search about every 8:00 to gave us the from about 4:30 in the afternoon to 11:30 in the morning. and i get live soviet radio all day long i enjoy the language.

i don't plea tend to understand all of this. >> what happened to that system at your home? >> i presume the people who bought our house displant aled it. one time the military hospital just stayed near it, i'm sure, taking picture. i love to listen at a certain time everyday. they would go live and play the soviet anthem that came out of

world war ii is it was thrown out with the soviet union ended. it was brought back with nifrn sdifrn words. now in north virginia s, you with watch russia today. have you seen that? why are they doing that? >> russia today is is a state controlled broadcast. >> it looks a lot like our american station.

i think they tried copy fox news. you will find similar type stories as least the old is approach under the soviet union was to highlight the worst thing that happened in the u.s. if we had a natural they ran a huge feature last week explaining why 9/11 was faked and the u.s. knew it. they do it as investigative

journalism. i lf that we can choose to watch these things. the great thing was to have access to state controlled loads of information. you can learn a lot from that. i go first to voice of russia, which is also state controlled and the most critical of russia, they do try to do that. no. i'm happy. i think those stations should be vanl . you should also be listening to radio echo and some of the very few media outlets out of russia

that are genuinely free. it's the competitive media that gives you a chance for you to decide to hear the news and what's really happening. 20 years later, this country spent $700 million on defense. you can hear people say all the rest of the world's military combine doesn't add up to $700 billion. why are we now in the position of still being the strong military country and do you believe we should be that's still about 4% of our gross national product. they were probably devoting over 30%.

it was definitely i don't think americans with warmongers. i think we sort of slug our shoulders and say somebody has to did it. i think we would love it if nato would take on more of the burden in the end we find out that the rest of the world ends up looking to the u.s. to be the force for security. it's too bad. it's annaful burden. i think the american people are generous with their people to support it. most of the things we do aren't

>> out of afghanistan? jo no. oilt of the financial industry. fishings you go back to the source of wealth in this country, which is private business. you change your attitude and start saying we overtax people what do you say to those who

krit sdiez the regulators in the last couple of years? >> i think that's totally misplaced. i am so tired of the criticism of wall street greed or predatory government. government interjected itself into the private market. when the government distorted the risk of fanny may, freddie mac security by sort of winking and saying these are guarantees. these are the same kind of financial bet. they multiply by 30 times over the financial mortgage. it was the government intervention in all of that. let's face it, financial and banking is one of the most

regulated industries you have. to suggest that people were greedy because they were pursuing profits legally. it was perfectly legal. why have an incentive system that make it's more profitable to write-up this financial instrument that's a bet whether or not the european interest rate also move or weather this currency will rise or fall. they ever sad willed with having to pay when a system like that

build on financial air collapses. that would have provided the system îui meetings a ye. i review our projects. i probably send 20% of my time. >> 80 pefrs of the time >> not working? >> working on a completely different book. more on a religious theme and it is fiction.

>> thank you for being here. >> for a dvd copy of this program, call 1-877-66-7726. for free transcripts or to give us your comments, visit "q&a."org. also, tuesday night, the first

state dinner as president obama welcomes indian prime minister. later in the week, american icon, three nights of c-span's original documentary. . . .