Obama: Financial Meltdown Could Have Been Avoided
Associated Press
Transcript
over the past two years more than seven million americans have lost their jobs and factories and businesses across our country have been shuttered in one way or another we've all been touched by the worst economic downturn since the great depression the difficult steps we've taken since january have helped to break our fault and begin to get us back on our feet the economy is growing again the flood of job losses we saw the beginning of this year slowed to a relative trickle last month these are all good signs for the future but they're little comfort to all our neighbors who remain out of a job and my solemn commitment is to work every day in every way that i can to push this recovery forward and build a new foundation for our lasting growth and prosperity that's why i announced some additional steps this week to spur private sector hiring we'll give an added boost to small businesses across our nation through additional tax cuts and access to lending they desperately need to grow we'll rebuild more of our vital infrastructure and promote advanced manufacturing in clean energy to put americans to work doing the work we need done and i've called for the extension of unemployment insurance and health benefits to help those who've lost their jobs weather these storms until we reach that brighter day but even as we dig our way out of this deep hole it's important that we address the irresponsibility and recklessness that got us into this mess in the first place some of it was the result of an era of easy credit when millions of americans borrowed beyond their means bought homes they couldn't afford and assumed that housing prices would always rise and the day of reckoning would never come but much of it was due to the irresponsibility of large financial institutions on wall street that gambled on risky loans and complex financial products seeking short-term profits and big bonuses with little regard for long-term consequences it was as some put it risk management without the management and their actions in the absence of strong oversight intensified the cycle of bubble and bust and led to a financial crisis that threatened to bring down the entire economy it was a disaster that could have been avoided if we'd had clear rules of the road for wall street and actually enforce them we can't change that history but we have an absolute responsibility to learn from it and take steps to prevent a repeat of the crisis from which we're still recovering and that's why i've proposed a series of financial reforms that would target the abuses we've seen and leave us less exposed to the kind of breakdown we just experienced