Wall Street executives should not get bonuses, says Obama

Bank executives forgoing bonuses is "an example of taking responsibility," Obama said.

"If you are already worth tens of millions of dollars, and you are having to lay off workers, the least you can do is say, 'I'm willing to make some sacrifice as well,' because I recognize that there are people who are a lot less well off, who are going through some pretty tough times," Obama told ABC News.

As for the incident in which the heads of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors flew their private jets to Washington last week to ask Congress for bailout money, Obama said: "I thought maybe they're a little tone deaf to what's happening in America right now."

He described it as "a chronic problem, not just for the auto industry ... (but) for the captains of industry generally.

"When people are pulling down hundred million dollar bonuses on Wall Street, and taking enormous risks with other people's money, that indicates a sense that you don't have any perspective on what's happening to ordinary Americans," Obama said.