New bubbles may impact recovery, says Barack Obama

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama, who took office amid the collapse of the last financial bubble, wants to make sure his economic recovery doesn't generate the next one.

Obama this month spoke four times in five days of the need to avoid what he called "artificial bubbles," even in an economy that's growing at just a 1.7% rate and where employment and factory usage remain below pre-recession highs.

"We have to turn the page on the bubble-and-bust mentality that created this mess," he said in his August 10 weekly radio address.

Obama's cautionary notes call attention to the risk that the lessons of the financial crisis, which was spawned by a speculator-driven surge in asset values, will be forgotten, widening the income gap and undermining a broad-based recovery.