Katie Couric's Notebook: Wall Street

It was, after all, billions of dollars in taxpayer money that kept them afloat.

Today, as the financial community marks the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the President delivered a stern message about learning from mistakes.

While it's good for the economy to have those banks making money again - it can't happen in the same risky ways that got them into trouble in the first place. Consumers, Mr. Obama said, need protection and he's advocating a new agency to regulate financial products so you don't get burned next time.

Experts say it'll face a tough road in Congress, but didn't lax regulations get us into this mess in the first place?

For now, those financial institutions can express their gratitude to the American people by not letting history repeat itself.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.