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Video: Obama: Reform will make Wall St. accountable
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Closed captioning of: Obama: Reform will make Wall St. accountable
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few moments i'll depart for canada to take part in a summit with the g-8 and the g-20 nations. this is the third g-20 summit we've held since i was sworn in as president. at our first meeting in london with the world in the grips of the worst
financial crisis
of our time, we acted boldly and swiftly to bring our economy back from the brink. at our second meeting, in pittsburgh, with our recovery beginning to take hold, we agreed to work to pursue a balanced pattern of global growth and repair our financial systems. this weekend in toronto, i hope we can build on this progress by coordinating our efforts to promote
economic growth
, to pursue financial reform, and to strengthen the
global economy
. we need to act in concert for a simple reason. this crisis proved and events continue to affirm that our national economies are inextricably linked. just as economic turmoil in one place can quickly spread to another. spaf guards in each of our nations can help protect all nations. gratified we've made great progress towards enacting these safeguards here at home. because of the incredibly hard work of chairman dodd and chairman frank, and the strong leadership of chairwoman lincoln and chairman peterson, and the great efforts of the conferees and members of both parties who were up very late last night, we are poised to pass the toughest financial reform since the ones we created in the aftermath of the great depression. early this morning the house and senate reached an agreement on a set of
wall street
reforms that represents 90% of what i proposed when i took up this fight. now, let me be clear. our
economic growth
and prosperity depend on a strong, robust
financial sector
, and i will continue to do what i can to foster and support a dynamic
private sector
, but we've all seen what happens when there is inadequate oversight and insufficient transprarnsy on
wall street
. the reforms making their way through congress will hold
wall street
accountable so we can help prevent another
financial crisis
like the one that we're still recovering from. we'll put in place the toughest consumer financial protections in our history while creating an
independent agency
to enforce them. through this agency we'll combine under one roof the
consumer protection
functions that currently are divided among half a dozen different agencies. now there will be one agency whose sole job will be to look out for you.
credit card
companies will no longer be able to mislead you with pages and pages of fine print. you will no longer be subject to all kinds of hidden fees and penalties or the predatory practices of unscrupulous lenders. instead we'll make sure the
credit card
companies and mortgage companies play by the rules. you'll be enpowered with easy to understand forms so you know what you're agreeing to and have the clear and con sis information you need to make financial decisions that are best for you and your family.
wall street
reform will also strengthen our economy in a number of other ways. we'll make our
financial system
more transparent by bringing the kinds of complex deals that helped trigger this crisis, like trades in a $ 600 trillion derivative
into the light
of day. enact a vocal rule to make sure banks protected by the
safety net
of the fdic can engage in risky trades for their own profit, they can't. and create what's called a resolution authority to help wind down firms whose collapse would tret threaten our entire
financial system
. no longer will we have companies that are, quote/unquote, too big to fail. the last months we've passed an economic recovery act,
health insurance
reform,
education reform
and we are now on the brink of passing
wall street
reform. and at the g 0 summit this weekend i'll work with other nations not only to coordinate our financial reform efforts but to promote global
economic growth
while ensuring that each nation can pursue a path that is a stainable for its own public finances. as the main forum for international economic cooperation, the g-20 is the right place to discuss such issues and over the last few days i hope we can build on our past progress, and strengthen the
global economy
for a long time to come. thank you very much, everybody.
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