The US President Barack Obama on Tuesday warned the Wall Street against their reckless spending and asked them to act responsibly and be accountable.
"Bankers and executives on Wall Street need to realise that enriching themselves on the taxpayer's dime is inexcusable, that the days of outsize rewards and reckless speculation that puts us all at risk have to be over," Obama said in his opening statement at his second live prime time press conference from White House.
At the same time, Obama said: "The rest of us can't afford to demonize every investor or entrepreneur who seeks to make a profit. That drive is what has always fueled our prosperity, and it is what will ultimately get these banks lending and our economy moving once more."
Referring to the issue of AIG bonuses, which has outraged the entire country, Obama said, "I'm as angry as anybody about those bonuses that went to some of the very same individuals who brought our financial system to its knees, partly because it's yet another symptom of the culture that led us to this point."
The US President said: "Moving forward, anybody -- any bank, for example, that is receiving capital from the taxpayers is going to have some very strict conditions in terms of how it pays out its executives, how it pays out dividend, how it's reporting its lending practices."
So his administration wants to make sure that there's some stiff conditions in place, he said.
Obama assured the countrymen that the US would recover from this recession.
"But it will take time; it will take patience; and it will take an understanding that when we all work together, when each of us looks beyond our own short-term interest to the wider set of obligations we have towards each other, that's when we succeed. That's when we prosper. And that's what is needed right now," he said.
"Finally, the most critical part of our strategy is to ensure that we do not return to an economic cycle of bubble and bust in this country. We know that an economy built on reckless speculation, inflated home prices and maxed-out credit cards does not create lasting wealth. It creates the illusion of prosperity, and it's endangered us all," Obama said.
Referring to the budget he submitted to the Congress, he said this build the economic recovery on a stronger foundation so that the country does not face another crisis like this 10 or 20 years from now.
"We invest in the renewable sources of energy that will lead to new jobs, new businesses and less dependence on foreign oil. We invest in our schools and our teachers, so that our children have the skills they need to compete with any workers in the world.
"We invest in reform that will bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses and our government. In this budget, we have to make the tough choices necessary to cut our deficit in half by the end of my first term, even under the most pessimistic estimates," he said.
The best way to bring our deficit down in the long run, Obama said, is not with a budget that continues the very same policies that have led us to a narrow prosperity and massive debt. "It's with a budget that leads to broad economic growth by moving from an era of borrow-and-spend to one where we save and invest," he added.
