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President Obama Delivers More Tough Talk to Wall Street on Financial Regulations
President Obama took on Wall Street from a nearby New York City college where he renewed his push to convince Main Street and Capitol Hill of the need for sweeping financial regulations. "One of the most significant contributors to this recession was a financial crisis as dire as any we've known in generations. And that crisis was born of a failure of responsibility -- from Wall Street to Washington -- that brought down many of the world's largest financial firms and nearly dragged our economy into a second Great Depression," the president said. "It is essential that we learn the lessons of this crisis, so we don't doom ourselves to repeat it," the president said. "And make no mistake, that is exactly what will happen if we allow this moment to pass -- an outcome that is unacceptable to me and to the American people." In his speech at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, which is two miles from the New York Stock Exchange, the president reminded Wall Street that their missteps have repercussions that are felt on Main Street. Attendees included Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. "I believe in the power of the free market. I believe in a strong financial sector that helps people to raise capital and get loans and invest their savings," he said. "But a free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it. That is what happened too often in the years leading up to the crisis. Some on Wall Street forgot that behind every dollar traded or leveraged, there is a family looking to buy a house, pay for an education, open a business, or save for retirement. What happens here has real consequences across our country."

President Obama Delivers More Tough Talk to Wall Street on Financial Regulations