(CNN) — Protests cropping up in more than a dozen American cities prompted President Barack Obama to address the phenomenon Thursday, saying demonstrators “are giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works.”
Speaking at a White House news conference, Obama also defended the country’s financial sector, which appears to have taken the brunt of protester criticism, focusing on Wall Street and its regulators’ purported role in expanding economic disparities.
“We have to have a strong, effective financial sector in order for us to grow,” the president said today.
Still, Obama discussed a need to pursue action aimed at improving government oversight and blamed Republican lawmakers for obstructing financial reforms.
“Not only did the financial sector, with the Republican Party in Congress, fight us every step of the way,” but now the “same folks” are suggesting that the country should “roll back reforms” and go back to “the way it was” before the financial crisis.
Thursday marked the 20th day of Wall Street protests, a series of grass-roots demonstrations against income inequality, corporate greed and a list of other often loosely defined social ills. (CNN)
