Summary of LaRocco's Economic Plan - America's Path to Recovery and Prosperity

Press Release

U.S. Senate candidate Larry LaRocco announced his economic plan, America's Path to Recovery and Prosperity, in a press conference today in front of the bank vault of the former Boise City National Bank. Below is a summary of some of the points made at the conference, including selected quotes from the plan. Click here to see the full version of LaRocco's plan.

This is an anxious time for America as our financial institutions continue their unprecedented meltdown and Congress and the Administration look for a solution. Larry's 30 years experience in the financial services industry, including four years on the House Banking Committee, give him a unique perspective on what is happening on Wall Street and what needs to be done to fix it.

"What we're seeing now is the result of lax regulation over the past eight years," he said. "The philosophy of putting the fox in charge of the henhouse - which my opponent Jim Risch endorses - has resulted in the excesses that have brought our economy to the brink of failure."

"We cannot afford any more of these failed economic policies," LaRocco said. "Nor can we afford a U.S. Senator who needs on-the-job training."

LaRocco's solution for the immediate crisis is a mechanism similar to the Resolution Trust Corporation that he worked with in the 1990s during the Savings & Loan crisis. The RTC protected homeowners, sold off failed institutions and restored confidence in the markets. "I believe a similar mechanism can work this time," LaRocco said, "but it must not be a blank check for the Administration to bail out firms that it deems ‘too big to fail.' That would punish not only taxpayers, but businesses that have played by the rules."

Nor should it allow the CEOs of failed institutions to leave with ‘golden parachutes.' "Business owners on Main Street don't get publicly financed parachutes, and neither should Wall Street CEOs," Larry said. Larry's plan calls for the resolution mechanism to be run by a bipartisan, professional staff, and to have a firm deadline for finishing its work. "It must also contain a guarantee of repayment to the taxpayers who bear the burden of this crisis. I could not vote for a recovery mechanism that didn't contain such a guarantee," he said.

Fixing the current crisis isn't enough, LaRocco says. "Once stability has returned to the market, we must address two other dysfunctional systems that hold the potential to become major economic emergencies down the road - our health care system and our dependence on foreign oil."

Larry proposes "energizing" the economy by researching and investing in alternative energy technologies like wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. "Studies have suggested that investments like these could bring as many as 14,000 high paying jobs to Idaho, and many more across the nation," he said, "as well as reducing our dependence on unpredictable foreign markets and enhancing our national security."

"The cost of health care has gone up four times faster than wages over the past six years, and has put a huge strain on families and businesses - especially small businesses," Larry said. To keep health care from becoming the next economic crisis, his plan would create a national health insurance market that would provide a menu of public and private insurance options ranging from catastrophic coverage to fully prepaid health care plans. Insurance would be fully portable and insurers would not be allowed to discriminate against people because of pre-existing medical conditions.

"My prescription for the economy is one-two-three: first solve the immediate crisis on Wall Street, then tackle energy independence and health insurance. If we get to work and put partisan politics aside, we should be able to accomplish these things in the first 100 days of the next Congress," Larry said.

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