Obama: My kids won’t work on Wall Street

President Obama knows one place his daughters won’t end up working: Wall Street.

In a new interview, Obama laughed off the idea that anyone in his family would end up working in the financial sector. In fact, he suggested that too many talented Americans may be wooed by power and paychecks on Wall Street and could use their abilities elsewhere.

{mosads}“If you start getting to the point where 40 percent of the economy is taken up by the financial sector and that our best and brightest are going into financial work as opposed to engineering or computer science, then we could actually lose our competitive edge over time,” he told Bloomberg Businessweek.

“I’m pretty certain that my daughters will not end up working on Wall Street,” he said when asked about their future.

Obama went on to argue that the financial sector still needs to take a broader perspective on its role in the country and the lingering anger in the public toward Wall Street.

“Early in my administration, somehow they often thought that me or Tim Geithner or others were fanning the flames of antibank sentiment, and we’d have to explain to them, no, what’s fanning the flames is that people have lost their homes and their savings, and this has all spilled out into Main Street while you guys still made out all right,” he said. “Hopefully, there’s been some more reflection on the part of the banking industry.”

Obama did note that having a robust system that lets U.S. companies easily obtain capital was a great “comparative advantage” in the U.S.

The president’s comments come as he continues to defend the Dodd-Frank financial reform law of 2010, one of his signature legislative achievements. And they come as an anti-Wall Street message has found a potent place on the campaign trail.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) exceeded all expectations in his run for the Democratic presidential nomination run by tapping into anger at financial institutions, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a progressive favorite, is reportedly on the shortlist of vice presidential candidates for presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The president touted Dodd-Frank’s impact now that it is nearly fully enacted and made the case that it may not be such a bad thing if banks are having a hard time reaping profits.

“It is indisputable that our banking system and our financial sector are safer and more stable than when I came into office,” he said. “What’s also true is that banking profits are not as outsized as they were, but I don’t consider that a bad thing, and I think most Americans don’t either.”