Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Photo
In his weekly radio address on Saturday, President Obama encouraged banks to be more generous with lending to small businesses in light of the $700 billion financial bailout they received last year. Obama said that in the last 15 years, almost two-thirds of America’s jobs have come from small businesses, and banks need to help the business owners who have had difficulty acquiring credit as a result of the credit freeze caused by the financial crisis. "These are the very taxpayers who stood by America's banks in a crisis, and now it's time for our banks to stand by creditworthy small businesses and make the loans they need to open their doors, grow their operations and create new jobs," Obama said. The president criticized the finance industry earlier in the week for lobbying Congress to weaken new regulations.