Saturday Word: An Eye on Wall Street
Less than a day after the House approved far-reaching financial regulations, President Obama used his weekly address to pressure the Senate to do the same and rallied support for his administration’s new programs to stimulate job growth.
“It was a disaster that could have been avoided if we’d had clearer rules of the road for Wall Street and actually enforced them,” Mr. Obama said Saturday. “That’s why I’ve proposed a series of financial reforms that would target the abuses we have seen and leave us less exposed to the kind of breakdown we just experienced.”
The legislation will create a new agency to defend consumers against abusive lending, set rules for trading some of the sophisticated financial instruments that fueled the downturn and is intended to reduce the ripple effect if large financial institutions topple. The overhaul — hailed by Democrats as the most radical oversight reform since the Depression — is central to the administration’s effort to avert another economic crisis.
Mr. Obama also took a swing at Congressional Republicans, who are working to defeat the measure. They contend the package will hamstring credit, cause job losses and lead to future bailouts for failing businesses.
G.O.P. Address: For the first time in weeks neither party focused their Saturday remarks on the health care legislation that is consuming the Senate as Democrats struggle to meet their self-imposed Christmas deadline.