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April 30, 2008

PRESS RELEASE Tony Zirkle for Congress

Jobs, Health Care, Afghanistan & Gas Prices will be the topic of my April 30, 2008 Press Conference at my South Bend Law Office at 110 N. Main Street at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time.

I. JOBS  

1. Take Immigration Seriously & Defend the Hard Working Class

Taking immigration seriously would create more jobs for Americans. We now have 12-20,000,000 illegals in this nation. For every job an illegal alien takes, it steals one from a U.S. citizen. Additionally, illegal aliens put a downward pressure on the pay scale for the hard working middle and struggling classes. Republicans need to start caring more about the plight of the hard working class who share many of the same pro-family values that the social conservative Republicans do about abortion, pornography-prostitution, and crime.

2. Promote U.S. Manufacturing

We can entice more manufacturing companies to the U.S. by lowering the 2nd highest world corporate tax rate from 35% to 25% for manufacturing facilities for 5 years with a possibility of renewal. Manufacturing ability is a national security risk that can not be out-sourced over-seas.

We now sit at an opportune time to re-invigorate the manufacturing base of this nation because of the declining value of the dollar which in this regard is a benefit because American products will be cheaper and more appealing over-seas.

3. Make America Business Friendly

We should consider temporarily suspending Sarbanes-Oxley, federal jurisdiction of employment lawsuits when the states have similar remedies since defending federal suits are far more expensive, and look for other ways to make American more business friendly and that would lower the costs of doing business.

II. HEALTH CARE

 

1. Limit Insurers Liability

I'm proposing a national health insurance plan that would limit an insurer’s yearly liability to $100,000 so that we can take the few catastrophic claims out of the system. For student insurance, as of a few years ago, a family could buy a plan for $2,000 a year. Maybe with this plan we could cut the health insurance family costs to $4,000 or so from the $6,000 to $8,000 it costs now. I currently don't have the resources to have accurate facts.

The catastrophic claims could be funded by putting some of our 2 million prisoners to work or by reintroducing the payroll social security tax for the top 1% of incomes over $250,000 and keep the donut hole for no payroll tax from $90-100,000 up to the $250,000.

2. Live Well, Pay Less

The economics of many issues very much rely on supply and demand, and for some issues, so does the value of the dollar. If we want to increase the availability of health care, maybe we should subsidize medical and nursing schools. If we want to reduce the demand, we should live healthier lives so that we get sick less often. Also, taking immigration seriously and deporting trespassers would reduce the demand for health care.

We could promote living healthier lives, for example, by encouraging vegetarianism. Humans have very long digestive tracts and were not designed to be meat eaters like some of the animal kingdom who have shorter digestive tracts. Many of the diseases we encounter are related to poor diet and infected meats.

3. Stopping Frivolous Suits is only a small part

In this article, the Republican position is taken to task for lack of evidence.

http://www.slate.com/id/2145400/

Republicans need to do their home work on health care or be prepared to get hit hard on this issue in the fall. We could take the position that health care is a state right reserved to the states under the 9th and 10th Amendments and that we believe in small government. However, there is a growing public demand for affordable health care, so we need an honest debate; otherwise, we will lose a significant block of voters.

Courts already have measures to stop and punish frivolous lawsuits through Trial Rule 56 Summary Judgment proceedings which can be filed as early as 30 days after a suit is filed or through Rule 11 Sanctions.

Indiana already has additional protections for health costs because Republican Governor "Doc" Bowen set up the medical malpractice review panel where no one can sue for medical malpractice until they go first to the review panel with 3 panelists. Their opinion gets admitted into evidence and if all 3 say it was not malpractice the judge will through out the case on Summary Judgment unless the plaintiff can pay (5,000 to 10,000) for an expert who says it was malpractice.

I have referred scores and probably hundreds of medical malpractice claims to other medical malpractice specialists over the last 4 years. I don't recall any of these attorneys taking a single one of my referred cases. It is so expensive for a law firm to litigate medical malpractice cases that small firms like mine don't take them and the more experienced ones screen them with a fine tooth comb.

My opponent has said he wants to expand coverage to a multi-state area. He'll have to explain that issue better. Are we expected to drive from South Bend to Chicago to save $20 on a doctor's visit? That would make any sense with the cost of gas.

III. AFGHANISTAN, DRUG NARCO-STATES & GAS PRICES  

 

We need an economic plan for Afghanistan. Military ops alone will not solve the issues.

1. Opium Drug Trade - to - Legal Pharmaceutical Narcotic Manufacturing

We need to consider an opium plan that worked in Turkey and apply it to Afghanistan. What Turkey did is to buy up a sizeable portion of the illegal opium farm crops and use the opium to manufacture legitimate medical uses for narcotics. A narcotic is defined as an opium derivative. (My experience as a drug dealing prosecutor in Elkhart, Lake & St. Joseph Counties taught me that).

http://www.hri.org/docs/USSD-INCSR/97/Europe/Turkey.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/Afghans-should-join-the-legal-opium-system/2007/08/31/1188067368259.html

For every legitimate farm diverted to the licit manufacturing of legal medicines, there will be one less farm to funnel funds to the Taliban and other terrorist organizations.

Afghanistan could be one of the major suppliers of narcotics for China, Indian and Southeast Asia.

We would need to rent or buy from Pakistan a 6 lane highway with a dual rail system from the closest practical point in Afghanistan to the Indian Ocean so that the Afghans could get their goods to international markets more efficiently.

2. Ethanol Afghanistan

We could also transform many of the opium farms to ethanol producing ones. We have see that a rise in ethanol use has contributed to the sudden rise in food prices.

We must not forget the economic principles of supply and demand. With 2 economics degrees from Andrews (business economics) and Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service (international economics), I'm well aware of this fact.

Afghanistan could be a major supplier to India, China and Southern and Central Asia for the alternative fuel source of ethanol. This policy would reduce the demand India and China are exerting on oil and gas prices worldwide. Thus, the price push of a reduced demand would be lessened and gas prices would fall.

Tony Zirkle
www.tonyzirkle.com/campaign
317 658-0107