Obama: Markets lacked 'adult supervision'

CHICAGO, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Retooling the U.S. financial system regulatory structure is a key priority for his administration, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said Thursday.

"I think the American people right now are feeling frustrated that there's not a lot of adult supervision out there," Obama said. "Whether it's in the political world or the financial world, there's a sense that ... whatever's good for me, I do."

He pledged to restore a "sense of responsibility" to make sure the economy grows and "that some of the shenanigans that have been taking place on Wall Street no longer occur."

Obama spoke about the economy during a news conference in Chicago, where he presented regulatory veteran Mary Schapiro as his nominee for Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, Gary Gensler as his choice to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Dan Tarullo as his designated Federal Reserve Board governor.

"We are going to have to greatly strengthen our regulatory apparatus, and update it from what worked for a 20th century financial system, so that it works in a 21st century financial system," he said, saying his administration would release a detailed plan on how to the "regulatory upgrade" would occur.

While not sharing specifics, Obama said regulations that "focus narrowly on bank regulation when huge amounts of money in the financial system are sloshing around outside of banks, that's a problem."

His said his economic plan includes focusing jobs and helping businesses get back on track, updating financial systems and zeroing in on the budget to address the potential $1 trillion-plus deficit in the short term and " how we can get on a path of fiscal responsibility and sustainability" in the long term.