Obama, McCain call for Wall Street reforms

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Both major-party U.S. presidential candidates Monday pledged regulatory reform of Wall Street firms after a weekend crisis rocked the U.S. financial system.

Pledging to protect deposits and to ensure the United States remains the "pre-eminent financial market" worldwide, Republican candidate John McCain said in a statement that, if elected, his administration "will replace the outdated and ineffective patchwork quilt of regulatory oversight in Washington and bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street."

Democratic candidate Barack Obama said on his Web site, "For years, I have consistently called for modernizing the rules of the road to suit a 21st century market -- rules that would protect American investors and consumers. And I've called for policies that grow our economy and our middle-class together."

McCain praised the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury for not agreeing to bail out Lehman Brothers, which announced Monday it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

"We are carefully monitoring the financial markets, including the duress at Lehman Brothers that is the latest reminder of ineffective regulation and management," McCain said.

While he didn't fault McCain for Wall Street's problems, "I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to," Obama said. "It's a philosophy ... that says we should just stick our heads in the sand and ignore economic problems until they spiral into crises."