President Obama on Wall Street and in Wall Street: Warning Against Selfish Pursuit of Business...

The president warns against a selfish pursuit of business which carries bad news for the rest of the economy.

"It is essential that we learn from the lessons of this crisis, so we don't doom ourselves to repeat it,'' Obama said. "And make no mistake, that is exactly what will happen if we allow this moment to pass – and that's an outcome that is unacceptable to me and it's unacceptable to you, the American people.''

"I believe in the power of the free market,'' Obama said Thursday. "I believe in a strong financial sector that helps people to raise capital and get loans and invest their savings. But a free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it.

"That is what happened too often in the years leading up to the crisis,'' he said. "Some on Wall Street forgot that behind every dollar traded or leveraged, there's [a] family looking to buy a house, or pay for an education, open a business, save for retirement.''