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Obama: Fix Financial System or Risk Another Meltdown

   VOA News 22 April 2010
   President  Barack  Obama  arrives  at JFK International Airport in New
   York,  22  Apr  2010, on his way to deliver a major economic speech at
   Cooper Union in Manhattan

Photo: AP

   President  Barack  Obama  arrives  at JFK International Airport in New
   York,  22  Apr  2010, on his way to deliver a major economic speech at
   Cooper Union in Manhattan

   U.S.  President  Barack Obama says the United States must craft better
   rules  to  govern  its  financial  system,  or  risk another financial
   crisis.
   He  said  the  financial  meltdown cost millions of jobs, trillions of
   dollars and wrecked the dreams of families and small businesses across
   the  nation.   The president spoke Thursday in New York City, a short
   distance  from  the  most  important  financial district in the United
   States.
   Mr.  Obama  urged  key  financial  executives  in his audience to stop
   "furious  efforts"  to  lobby  Congress  and  block  reforms  that the
   president says will help Wall Street as well as ordinary people.
   He  said reforms must include consumer protection, limits on how large
   banks  can grow and how much risk they can take, as well as changes in
   the way executives are paid.
   The  president  also  urged  more  public disclosure of the details of
   trading  derivatives.   Those  are  the  complex financial deals that
   sometimes went sour and are blamed for much of the financial crisis.
   A  bill  addressing  concerns about derivatives passed a key committee
   vote  on  Wednesday.   An  overall reform bill may come up for Senate
   consideration  next week.  The lower House has already passed its own
   version of regulatory reform.

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