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By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer


      WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says consumers would
lose if Republicans regain power in Congress and try to roll back
his hard-won Wall Street overhaul.

      He says the GOP's promised repeal of the law would mean the
return of a financial system whose near-collapse led to the worst
recession since the Depression.

      "Without sound oversight and commonsense protections for
consumers, the whole economy is put in jeopardy," Obama said
Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address. "That doesn't
serve Main Street. That doesn't serve Wall Street. That doesn't
serve anyone."

      The law passed despite nearly unanimous Republican opposition.
It sought to rein in a financial system that had sped ahead of
outdated rules, allowing banks, traders and others to take
increased risks.

      It limits bank overdraft fees and ends abuses such as
retroactive interest rate increases on credit card balances. It
came in the wake of a $700 billion bank rescue passed in the final
months of George W. Bush's presidency. While the bailout is
credited with providing stability, it's deeply unpopular with
voters angry of taxpayer money being used to help prop up huge
banks.

      Obama promised that the measure ensures that taxpayers will
"never again be on the hook for a bailout."

      Obama's address came less than two weeks before elections in
which Republicans have a good chance of taking over the House, if
not the Senate. The financial regulation measure hasn't been a
central campaign issue.

      House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio has called for a repeal,
as have top Senate Republicans. But Obama still would stand in the
way through his veto power.

      In the GOP's weekly message, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota
denounced Obama's economic stimulus bill, overhaul of the health
care system and plans to allow Bush-era tax cuts for wealthier
people to expire.

      "We have learned the lessons not only of what hasn't worked
over the past two years, but what didn't work the last time
Republicans controlled Congress," Thune said. "We are determined
to take this country in the right direction."


      Added Thune: "Are you better off today than you were two years
ago?"

      Online:
      
 http://www.whitehouse.gov
      
      (Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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President Barack Obama says consumers would
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