Obama Gives Blessing to Anti-Capitalist Wall Street Protests

(NBC NY) -- President Barack Obama said the growing protest movement against Wall Street, which has been spreading across the nation, is voicing the American public's widespread frustration about the country's financial system.

"I think it expresses the frustrations that the American people feel," he said Thursday. "People are frustrated and the protesters are giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works."

But Obama, taking questions at the White House after making a push for the American Jobs Acts, said the U.S. has to have have a strong and effective financial sector for the economy to grow. He said the financial regulation bill he championed is designed to make sure there is tougher oversight of the financial industry.

"The American people understand that not everybody's been following the rules, that Wall Street is an example of that," he said.