WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Sunday that he had to "hold my nose" over last year's taxpayer-financed bailouts of big financial companies, but argued that the action had to be taken to avoid a major meltdown of the U.S. financial system and the broader economy.

Bernanke's comments came during a town-hall-style meeting in Kansas City, Mo., where he was peppered with several questions about government decisions last year to rescue so-called "too big to fail companies" like insurance giant American International Group, whose collapse would have wreaked havoc on the global economy.

A small-business owner complained to Bernanke that such actions were "hard to swallow," saying he felt like small businesses - also struggling to survive the recession and all the financial fallout - were being shortchanged.

"Nothing made me more frustrated, more angry, than having to intervene" when companies were "taking wild bets," Bernanke said. But not acting would have had grave consequences for the economy, he added.

"I was not going to be the Federal Reserve chairman who presided over the second Great Depression," he said. "I had to hold my nose.... I'm as disgusted as you are.... I absolutely understand your frustration."

Public television's Jim Lehrer moderated the one-hour town-hall meeting. It is airing this week in three installments on PBS' "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."