By Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
President Barack Obama marked the one anniversary of Lehman Brothers’ collapse with a speech on Wall Street on Monday, calling for an end to the era of companies that are “too big to fail.”
"Those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for consequences and expect that American taxpayers will be there to break their fall," the president said.
The market appeared nonplussed by the presidents speech, remaining largely unmoved by what he called the most ambitious overhaul of the nation's financial system since the Great Depression.
Despite the president's announcement of major reform, Wall Street analysts say big banks are returning to business as usual, and that the end of Lehman made existing banks even bigger.
Obama used the speech to unveil a three-pronged plan that includes establishing a new consumer financial protection agency, closing the legal loopholes that enable banks to operate without sufficient accountability and strengthening U.S. foreign trade with strict enforcement of international agreements.
At Federal Hall, Obama admonished Wall Street's reckless behavior and warned that those who had not learned the lessons of Lehman would be punished.
Still, there was also time for praise—of his administration.
“We can be confident that the storms of the past two years are beginning to break,” Obama said, touting the “aggressive and innovative steps” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Director of the National Economic Council Laurence Summers took following Lehman's collapse.
He lauded the Homeowner Affordability Plan, which helped stem the tide of foreclosures, and the American Reinvestment and Recovery Plan, better known as "the stimulus," that he said saved homes and jobs.
Sen. Chris Dodd, of Connecticut, and Rep. Barney Frank, of Massachusetts, are championing the plan in Congress, despite push back by industry lobbyists and Republican lawmakers.
Lehman's collapse one year ago sent the stock market into a tailspin that brought American International Group the the brink of failure and touched off a wave of bank mergers. The federal government also began bailing out companies deemed too important to fail.
Now, Obama said, banks are repaying their debt to taxpayers, and the government is retracting from the private sector.
“We’re beginning to return to normalcy," Obama said. "But normalcy cannot lead to complacency."
