Tony Zirkle for Congress
About Tony
- 2006-02-21-Tony Zirkle for Congress
- 2008-02-10-Zirkle Proposes Abortion Reform
- 2008-02-12-Zirkle Comments on Luke Puckett's Announcement
- 2008-02-27-Zirkle on FISA and the Exclusionary Rule
- 2008-04-11-Zirkle Answers S.B. Tribune Questions
- 2008-04-11-Tony Zirkle Answers Questionnaire from Michigan City News Dispatch
- 2008-04-14-Zirkle's Final 3 Weeks Schedule of 2008 Primary
- 2008-04-24-Tony Zirkle Answers Logansport Pharos-Tribune Essay
- 2008-04-18-Tony's Final 3 Weeks Contingent Schedule
- 2008-04-25-Tony Zirkle Responds to Death Threats
- 2008-04-29-Press Release 1. TV 2. MSNBC 3. 4-30 & 5-2 Press Conf. 4. 4-30 Penn H.S. Town Hall 5. Pastor Wright 6. 5-3 Rally in S. Bend
- 2008-04-30 Zirkle on Jobs, Health Care, Afghanitstan, Narco-Terrorist States & Gas Prices
- 2008-05-02 Tony Zirkle Jabs Back
- 2008-02-03-Zirkle Offers Pro Bono Legal for Suspended Drivers
- 2004-05-03-Highway Bill Update & May 3-4, 2004 Agenda
- 2004-05-010-Why Tony Zirkle is the better choice for the Republican Party
- 2004-01-07-Zirkle Stakes His Position on Gambling Boats and Money Laundering
- 2004-02-04-Zirkle Speaks on Drug Crime
- 2004-02-25-Education and Affirmative Action
- 2004-03-05-Anti-Gerrymandering and Zirkle's View on President Bush's Marriage Constitutional Amendment
- 2004-03-17-Zirkle launches Web site and accepts Hispanic Leadership Council's invitation to speak on immigration.
- 2004-02-to-04-Taxes and Social Security Reform
- 2004-or-2006-Election Q&A for Lafayette newspaper
- 2004-or-2006-Post-Tribune Q&As
- 2004-or-2006-Terror/Cultural Wars and Porn-Prostitution
- 2004-or-2006-NWI Times Q & As
- 2004-or-2006-Michigan City News-Dispatch Q & As
- 2004-or-2006-South Bend Tribune Q & As.
- 2008-05-02 Site 360 Interview Self-Determination
- 2008-03-18-Zirkle Supports Veterans
- Press Coverage Links
- 2008-04-29-Television Transcript for WNDU & Comcast
International Trade/NAFTA
As an international economics major, I believe in free trade that is fair. Societies on the macro scale almost always benefit. However, when trade policies fail to take into account the local shocks to jobs, great harm does result. Many of the democrats wish to cancel various trade agreements. They would do well to look back in history in the 1920s at the Smoot-Hawley Tarriffs that led to a trade war which eventually put us in the Great Depression.
In constitutional commerce clause interpretations, the courts have allowed local governments to discriminate when they are a market participant. In a similar manner, I believe that jobs can be preserved when the domestic production is only used for domestic consumption and when it is in no way exported, especially in areas that are vital to national security such as food production and steel, which is directly tied to the war-making capacity of a nation.
My proposals will be to amend first the various trade agreements that are causing job losses. Where corporate tax loopholes exist that promote the export of jobs, they will be closed. When nations fail to maintain a minimum, living wage, trade agreements should be amended to provide a penalty. Some say that NAFTA has led to a 35% reduction in the pay rate in Mexico. If so, NAFTA must be fixed. If free trade is not uplifting societies then it is not fair trade, it is a race to the bottom.