President warns Wall Street against reckless behavior

NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama sternly warned Wall Street today against returning to the sort of reckless and unchecked behavior that threatened the nation with a second Great Depression.

Even as he noted the U.S. economy and financial system were pulling out of a downward spiral, Obama warned financial titans today — the first anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse — they could not count on any more bailouts.

He credited his administration and the $787 billion stimulus package rammed through Congress in the first days of his taking office for pulling the country back from the brink.

“We can be confident that the storms of the past two years are beginning to break,” he said.

And even as the economy begins a “return to normalcy,” Obama said, “normalcy cannot lead to complacency.”

Nevertheless, Obama said, “Instead of learning the lessons of Lehman and the crisis from which we are still recovering, they are choosing to ignore them.”

His tough message warned the financial community to “hear my words: We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses.”