GP: Remember when Wall Street was evil? Here’s the president in 2011 when asked about the Occupy Wall Street anarchists, via ABC News:

The protestors demonstrating against Wall Street and the country’s financial system are expressing the widespread frustrations shared by the U.S. public, President Obama said today.

“I think people are frustrated,” Obama said at a White House news conference. “The protesters are giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works.”

“I think it expresses the frustrations that the American people feel that we had the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, huge collateral damage all throughout the country, all across Main Street, and yet you’re still seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on abusive practices that got us into this problem in the first place,” the president said of the “Occupy Wall Street” protests that began in New York City Sept. 17.

GP: And here is today, via the Los Angeles Times:

Top Wall Street chief executives met with President Obama on Wednesday and warned of severe economic consequences if the standoff over the federal budget and debt limit is not ended soon.

Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein said the bankers were not taking sides in the partisan fight that triggered the continuing partial government shutdown, noting they met with Republican leaders on Capitol Hill as well.

But speaking to reporters outside the White House, Blankfein backed Obama’s position thatRepublicans should not be withholding an increase in the nation’s $16.7 trillion debt limit as part of negotiations over spending and the new healthcare law.

[. . .]

Blankfein, Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan and JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon were among several CEOs who met with Obama at the White House and earlier Wednesday on Capitol Hill with House Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield).

The meetings were organized by the Financial Services Forum, a Washington-based trade group.