In his weekly address to the nation, Obama called on lawmakers to finish implementing these reforms so that government can prevent excessive risk-taking and help create an economy that is built to last.
“We’ve put in place Wall Street reform with smarter, tougher, commonsense rules that serve one primary purpose: to prevent a crisis like that from ever happening again. And yet, for the past two years, too many Republicans in Congress and an army of financial industry lobbyists have actually been waging an all-out battle to delay, defund, and dismantle Wall Street reform,” he said.
The President added, “It’s so important that Members of Congress stand on the side of reform, not against it; because we can’t afford to go back to an era of weak regulation and little oversight; where excessive risk-taking on Wall Street and a lack of basic oversight in Washington nearly destroyed our economy. We can’t afford to go back to that brand of ‘you’re-on-your-own’ economics. Not after the American people have worked so hard to come back from this crisis.”
According to these new rules, big banks or financial institutions now have to hold more cash on hand so that if they make a “bad decision” they have to pay for it, not the taxpayers.
They have to write out a “living will” that details how they will be wound down if they do fail.
Watch complete Weekly Address:
Watch complete Weekly Address: