English subtitles for clip: File:2010-01-16 President Obama's Weekly Address.ogv

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The President: Over the past two years,
more than seven million Americans

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have lost their jobs.

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Countless businesses have been
forced to shut their doors.

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Few families have escaped the
pain of this terrible recession.

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And rarely does a day go by that
I don't hear from folks who are hurt.

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That's why we have pushed so
hard to rebuild this economy.

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But even as we work tirelessly
to dig our way out of this hole,

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it's important that we address
what led us into such a deep

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mess in the first place.

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Much of the turmoil of this
recession was caused by the

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irresponsibility of banks and
financial institutions on Wall Street.

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These financial firms took huge,
reckless risks in pursuit of

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short-term profits
and soaring bonuses.

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They gambled with
borrowed money,

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without enough oversight or
regard for the consequences.

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And when they lost,
they lost big.

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Little more than a year ago,
many of the largest and oldest

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financial firms in the world
teetered on the brink of

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collapse, overwhelmed by
the consequences of their

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irresponsible decisions.

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This financial crisis nearly
pulled the entire economy into a

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second Great Depression.

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As a result, the
American people --

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struggling in their own right --
were placed in a deeply unfair

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and unsatisfying position.

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Even though these financial
firms were largely facing a

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crisis of their own making,
their failure could've led to an

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even greater calamity for
the country as a whole.

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And that's why the previous
administration started a program

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-- the Troubled Asset
Relief Program, or TARP --

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to provide these financial
institutions with funds to

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survive the turmoil that
they had helped unleash.

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It was a distasteful but
necessary thing to do.

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Now, many originally feared that
most of the $700 billion in TARP

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money would be lost forever.

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But when my administration
came into office,

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we put in place rigorous
rules for accountability and

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transparency, which cut
the costs of the bailout dramatically.

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We've now recovered most of the money
we provided to the banks.

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That's good news, but
as far as I'm concerned,

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it's not good enough.

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We want the taxpayers'
money back -- all of it --

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and we're going to
collect every dime.

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That's why, this week, I
proposed a new fee on major

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financial firms to compensate
the American people for the

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extraordinary assistance they
provided to the financial industry.

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And the fee would be in place
until the American taxpayer is made whole.

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Only the largest financial firms
with more than $50 billion in

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assets will be affected,
not community banks.

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And the bigger the firm --
and the more debt it holds --

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the larger the fee.

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Because we are not only going to
recover our money and help close

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our deficits; we are going
to attack some of the banking

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practices that
led to the crisis.

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That's important.

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The fact is, financial firms
play an essential role in our economy.

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They provide capital and credit
to families purchasing homes,

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students attending college,
businesses looking to start up

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or expand.

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That's critical
to our recovery.

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That's why our goal
with this fee --

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and with the common-sense
financial reforms we seek --

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is not to punish the
financial industry.

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Our goal is to prevent the abuse
and excess that nearly led to

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its collapse.

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Our goal is to promote fair
dealings while punishing those

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who game the system; to
encourage sustained growth while

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discouraging the speculative
bubbles that inevitably burst.

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Ultimately, that's in the
shared interest of the financial

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industry and the
American people.

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And of course, I would like the
banks to embrace this sense of

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mutual responsibility.

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So far, though, they have
ferociously fought financial reform.

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The industry has even joined
forces with the opposition party

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to launch a massive lobbying
campaign against common-sense

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rules to protect consumers
and prevent another crisis.

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Now, like clockwork, the banks
and the politicians who curry

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their favor are already trying
to stop this fee from going into effect.

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The very same firms reaping
billions of dollars in profits,

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and reportedly handing out
more money in bonuses and

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compensation than ever
before in history,

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are now pleading poverty.

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It's a sight to see.

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Those who oppose this fee say
the banks can't afford to pay

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back the American people without
passing on the costs to their

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shareholders and customers.

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But that's hard to believe when
there are reports that Wall

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Street is going to hand out
more money in bonuses and

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compensation just this year than
the cost of this fee over the

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next ten years.

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If the big financial firms
can afford massive bonuses,

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they can afford to pay
back the American people.

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Those who oppose this fee have
also had the audacity to suggest

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that it's somehow unfair.

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That because these firms have
already returned what they

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borrowed directly, their
obligation is fulfilled.

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But this willfully ignores the
fact that the entire industry

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benefited not only
from the bailout,

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but from the assistance
extended to AIG and to homeowners,

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and from the many unprecedented
emergency actions taken by the

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Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and
others to prevent a financial collapse.

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And it ignores a far greater
unfairness: sticking the

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American taxpayer with the bill.

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That's unacceptable to me,
and to the American people.

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We are not going to let Wall
Street take the money and run.

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We're going to pass
this fee into law.

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And I'm going to continue
to work with Congress on

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common-sense financial reforms
to protect people and the

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economy from the kind of costly
and painful crisis we've just been through.

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Because after a very
tough two years,

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after a crisis that has
caused so much havoc,

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if there is one lesson
that we can learn,

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it's this: we cannot return
to business as usual.

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Thanks very much.