Obama to Wall Street: Prepare for Reform

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 14, 2009 11:45 AM CDT

(Newser) – President Obama visited Wall Street’s historic Federal Hall today, on the anniversary of Lehman Brothers' collapse, to make the case for the financial regulatory reforms wending their way through Congress. He spoke of the need for “strong rules of the road” for the financial system. “History cannot be allowed to repeat itself,” he said, calling the effort “the most ambitious overhaul of the financial regulatory system since the Great Depression.”

Obama then outlined his proposals, including a new consumer financial protection agency, and a more central regulatory authority, with the clout to govern big outfits like Lehman. To critics, he said, “Do you really believe that the absence of sound regulation one year ago was good for the financial system?” He also admonished Wall Street institutions that they have a responsibility to the taxpayers who bailed them out: “It is neither right nor responsible, after you’ve recovered, to shirk your obligations.”

[Images (3)]

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President Barack Obama arrives at JFK International Airport in New York, Monday, Sept. 14,2009, on his way to give a major economic speech at Federal Hall in Manhattan. (AP Photo/David Karp)

President Barack Obama holds health insurance reform rally, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama speaks about the financial crisis, on the anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse, Monday, Sept. 14, 2009, at Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

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I promise you, I did not run for president to bail out banks. The very absence of common sense regulations is what created the need for that extraordinary intervention. - Barack Obama

We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses.
- Barack Obama

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