Obama Delivers His Failure Of Responsibility Speech To Financial Community On Wall Street

President Obama delivered a clear message to a packed room of politicians, financial leaders and philanthropists this afternoon in New York at Federal Hall on Wall Street. It was a timely speech, one year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

“…while there continues to be a need for government involvement to stabilize the financial system, that necessity is waning.  After months in which public dollars were flowing into our financial system, we are finally beginning to see money flowing back to the taxpayers. This doesn’t mean taxpayers will escape the worst financial crisis in decades unscathed. But banks have repaid more than $70 billion, and in those cases where the government’s stake has been sold completely, taxpayers have actually earned a 17-percent return on their investment. Just a few months ago, many experts from across the ideological spectrum feared that ensuring financial stability would require even more tax dollars. Instead, we’ve been able to eliminate a $250 billion reserve included in our budget because that fear has not been realized.”

Obama underscored a need for shared responsibility as the bridge to building trust among lenders, institutions and the American people. He emphasized the promotion of “common sense rules” to tackle abuse, excess and the misuse of funds. These “painful lessons” he reiterated, will prevent the United States from becoming reckless in the future. TRNS intervied Peter Peterson from the Blackstone Group directly following the President’s speech.

Attendees included Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, White House Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Romer, Paul Volcker, Chairman of the Financial Advisory Board, Representatives Barney Frank, D-MA Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, Gary Ackerman, D-NY, Joseph Crowley, D-NY, and Anthony Weiner, D-NY to name a few. Also in attendance were New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and New York City Comptroller William Thompson.