President Obama said that a stronger economy is due in part to a smaller Wall Street. | Getty Obama: Smaller banking profits not a 'bad thing'

The U.S. economy is safer and more stable now than it was seven and a half years ago, President Obama said this week in an interview with Bloomberg published on Thursday — and one of the reasons is that the financial industry is smaller, with less "froth."

"They’re still making a profit, it’s just that there is a froth that’s been eliminated, and that’s good over the long term for the financial sector," he added.


And he argued that Wall Street profits weren't necessarily the best way to allocate scarce capital that is better invested in science and technology, anyway: "I would say the American people should be suspicious if anybody who’s occupying this office thinks that whatever’s good for the top 10 banks is automatically good for America," he said. "Even bankers shouldn’t want their president to be thinking that way."

The president ducked a specific question on how high the minimum wage should be, but argued that raising it would benefit not just employees, but employers as well by increasing Americans' spending power and spurring innovation. Obama linked lower wages to nativist movements in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom, where voters on Thursday are deciding whether or not to leave the European Union.

Unless corporate leaders agree to spread the wealth around, the president said, the economy will eventually suffer.

“Over time, you’ll strangle this goose that’s been laying you all these golden eggs,” he said. “Share the eggs.”

Obama chuckled at the notion that he might work in the financial industry after his administration, and said of his daughters Sasha and Malia when asked: "Well, I’m pretty certain that my daughters will not end up working on Wall Street."

He did tell Bloomberg that had he not gone into politics, he likely would have started a business. "The skill set of starting my presidential campaigns — and building the kinds of teams that we did and marketing ideas — I think would be the same kinds of skills that I would enjoy exercising in the private sector," he said, though he acknowledged his irritation when "CEOs who come in and start explaining to me how I should be running the presidency."

He also scoffed at Donald Trump’s claims of incredible business success and said he’s not alone in doubting the real estate mogul’s bona fides.

“There’s no successful businessman in America who actually thinks the most successful businessman in the country is Donald Trump,” he said. “I know those guys, and so do you, and I guarantee you, that’s not their view.”