Imagine, if you would for a minute, living in a world where the average worker's salary was higher than the average financial industry employee's annual bonus.

Now you may scoff at such an absurd-sounding statement in today's economic climate, but it's no joke. In 1985, the average annual salary for all workers across the country was, if you can believe this, actually several thousand dollars higher than the average bonus: $19,000 to $13,970. [Disclaimer: I am not making this fact up, it just seems that way].

Over twenty-five years later, the average Wall Street bonus has soared almost 14 times higher. The ratio between average CEO pay and average U.S. worker pay is 319 to 14--meaning that the average worker's salary has essentially been stagnant since the mid-1980s.

It's gotten so bad that bonuses at many bailed out banks greatly outpace the amount of profit generated by the banks. For example, while Goldman Sachs earned $2.3 billion last year and received $10 billion in TARP funds, they paid out $4.8 billion in bonuses--an amount that is more than double their net income. Goldman Sachs has set aside more than $16 billion for bonuses, and big banks that were bailed out by taxpayers have set aside a record $140 million for 2009 salary and bonuses.

The reality is that skyrocketing CEO pay and bonuses have not slowed since our economic crisis hit.

Other facts and figures on wage inequality for Main Street vs. Wall Street that may make your eyes bug out like the crazy but lovable red-headed germ-a-phobic teacher Emma on hit TV show Glee:

• As of 2007, the top ten percent of American earners brought in 49.7 percent of total wages. This is the highest share of total U.S. income made up by the top 10 percent of earners in almost a hundred years, including during the Great Depression.
• During the economic expansion of 2002-2007, the top 1 percent captured two-thirds of income growth.
• Today, the average CEO today makes in one day what the average worker is paid in a year.
• The amount the top five executives at each of the 20 banks that accepted the most federal bailout money received in personal compensation from 2006 to 2008: $32 billion.
• A quarter-billion dollars: The total amount of compensation the 20 CEOs at these bailed-out companies made. When you break it down, the payout "rewarded" to each exec averages $13.8 million.

And last, but certainly not least, there are banksters who claim that big banks using taxpayer funds to pay out massive bonuses and create massive inequality is actually a good thing for the economy.

Don't believe me? Watch this, starting at around 2:50:

Yesterday the Federal Reserve announced a plan to cut executive pay by as much as 90 percent for CEOs at the seven biggest TARP recipients--companies like Bank of America, Citibank and AIG who have received hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts since their risky deals brought the economy to its knees last year. It's a good start, but it still leaves dozens of other banks that are still taking billions in tax dollars and paying out huge bonuses to their top execs.The sweeping move by the Fed comes right before the bankers' association meeting in Chicago from the 25th through the 27th, where thousands are going to gather in the largest demonstration against bank greed since the financial meltdown began.

The new report shows how many of the CEOs responsible for our country's economic downfall are now using the crisis as a jumping off point for even greater personal windfalls. Some of the study's findings:

• $32 million: The amount the top five executives at each of the 20 banks that accepted the most federal bailout money received in personal compensation from 2006 to 2008.


• 1,000 years: The number of years 100 average workers would have to work for to make as much as these 100 executives made in three.
• $90 million: That's how much stock options soared in 2009 for nine of the 20 bailout banks, based on IPS's examination of corporate proxy statements.
• 160,000: The number of employees who have been laid off since January 1, 2008 at the top 20 financial industry recipients of taxpayer funded bailout money.
• A quarter-billion dollars: The total amount of compensation the 20 CEOs at these bailed-out companies made. When you break it down, the payout "rewarded" to each exec averages $13.8 million.

This alarming study should serve as yet another reminder that giving astoundingly huge rewards to corporate executives only serves to give executives a much greater incentive to behave outrageously--and engage in reckless behaviors that put American taxpayers and our economy at great financial risk. Download the report "America's Bailout Barons: Taxpayers, High Finance, and the CEO Pay Bubble."

No. (That answer came pretty easily to us!)

On Thursday, bailed out banks like Bank of America--which have not paid back their billions in taxpayer-funded bailouts--had to submit proposals for executive pay and bonuses to Obama's pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg. Feinberg said yesterday that he has broad and "binding" authority over executive compensation, including the ability to "claw back" money already paid...."I have the discretion, conferred upon by Congress, to attempt to recover compensation that has already been paid to executives not only in these companies, but in any company that received federal assistance," said Feinberg.

As Obama's pay czar is weighing how and whether to use that power, we're hoping he takes into account the laundry list of reasons why Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis and other top banking executives don't deserve bonuses this year. We've laid out our "Top Ten" here.

#1: Bank of America has received nearly $200 billion in taxpayer bailouts and backstops.
As long as Bank of America is reliant on billions of taxpayer bailout funds, they should not be allowed to pay out bonuses to top executives while millions of Americans continue to lose their homes, jobs, and retirement savings.

Read all ten (after the jump).

Big banks and CEOs didn't mind quick action from Congress when they were begging for billion dollar bailouts--but now that they've got them, they're back to thinking about their next bonus or the latest and greatest way to delay action on President Obama's proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA).

USA Today dishes out a scathing critique of Wall Street's continued practice of paying out big figure bonuses to the architects of our economic collapse. "Wall Street's economic well-being is totally based on taxpayers' money saving them from disaster, and they've already forgotten that," said SEIU's Stephen Lerner. "Americans lost trillions of dollars in wealth from the economic collapse, and while Wall Street got bailed out, it will take years for workers on Main Street to get jobs and work their way out of this economic catastrophe."

The consumer protection reform bill was passed on July 31 and will be brought to a vote in the Senate after the August recess. We need action sooner, not later--click here to fax your Representatives and tell them the U.S. Chamber and big banks shouldn't set the agenda on financial reform.

Paul Begala has an incredibly powerful and persuasive op-ed in Politico today making the case for the Employee Free Choice Act. After introducing nightmare hypothetical scenarios of workers getting fired for trying to organize, Begala pulls back the curtain and reveals the stories are about real workers who were fighting for better jobs.

All of these stories are absolutely true. The stories of Trish Miechur, the CNA, and Corey Kresse, the metalworker, are replicated in boardrooms and factories across America. The story of Ken Lewis, Bank of America's CEO? Well, that's a familiar one, too. So here's the question: Why are their experiences so different? Whom do we want our economic policies to benefit?

For eight years under the GOP, economic policy gave CEOs such as Ken Lewis the gold mine, while giving hardworking, middle-class Americans such as Trish and Corey the shaft. President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress were elected to change that, and protecting employees from corporate abuses is part of the change we need. That's what the Employee Free Choice Act will do.

Corporate lobbyists say the phrase "Employee Free Choice Act" as though it were a curse. But for Trish and Corey, it's a blessing. The point of the Employee Free Choice Act is to say that we've had enough of an economy that works for Ken Lewis -- and Bernie Madoff, for that matter. We want an economy that works for Trish Miechur and Corey Kresse.

The Employee Free Choice Act gives workers an opportunity to bargain with their employers for better job security, wages and health care at a time of astounding corporate greed. The legislation has three main parts: 1) It says that when a majority of workers want to form a union, a real path is provided for them to do so -- a path chosen by workers, not corporate special interests; 2) it penalizes employers who try to fire or harass workers for attempting to form a union; and 3) it says that once workers have voted for a union, employers have to come to agreement with workers on a contract. Simple stuff, right?

So why are corporate interests squealing like a pig stuck under a gate? Maybe because they're the only ones who prospered under the Bush-Lewis-Madoff policies.

But legislative delays don't diminish the moral and economic imperative for sweeping labor reform and as a result, we must continue to call on Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act with majority sign-up. As Begala notes, this popular piece of legislation will get America's economy moving again, so we have no time to lose.

Bonuses, bailouts, and a broken system: Is this the America in which big banks and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce believe in?

The Washington Post reports today that Chamber and the banking industry are intensifying their lobbying efforts against financial reform. Recognizing their parallel efforts to fund campaigns against working families, the unappetizing alliance of big bank executives, credit card and financial services companies is joining forces to intensify their lobbying efforts against financial reform. "It's no surprise that the U.S. Chamber and the big banks that drove our economy into the ground are joining forces to defend a failed financial model that enriches CEOs at the expense of shareholders, workers, and our economy," commented SEIU's Anna Burger, on efforts to block the Consumer Financial Protection Agency proposed by President Obama.

Obama's proposed agency would oversee a range of financial products, from mortgages to credit cards and checking and savings accounts to guard against anti-consumer sales practices and fight for needed reforms to protect front-line bank workers and consumers. The coalition fighting the Obama consumer agency plan views their efforts to protect those on the receiving end of multi-billion-dollar taxpayer bailouts as simply "allowing the financial services industry to serve its customers in the best way possible." Um, U.S. taxpayers who've been forced to subsidize banks' bad behavior with billions of their hard-earned money might not agree. The coalition's prescription for financial reform to make their case so far include rebranding the same reckless policies that will drive families deeper into debt and launching a massive PR campaign to scare Americans with 'Harry and Louise' style TV ads.

BofA "encourages" its employees to help consumers rack up debt

This comes a week after current and former Bank of America workers stepped forward to expose harmful anti-consumer practices by the bank that encourage customers to sign up for high-interest-rate credit and cash advance services to max out customer credit, as well as structuring a variety of check and debit card services resulting in overdraft fees and other charges. A former BofA employee from Landover Hills, MD, Gabby Inaleis, said that although initially she thought she was taking financial services job, it didn't take very long to realize BofA had no interest in helping customers reach their financial goals. Under constant pressure from her manager to meet unrealistic sales goals (example: sell at least 40 checking accounts every Friday), Gabby reported she would often sell multiple checking accounts to clients that didn't need them by offering to waive the account fees for a couple of months. "It became standard practice to make a customer who wasn't planning on opening an account wait for up to an hour to speak with a personal banker," she says.

No employee bonuses until grandmothers everywhere are penniless (and cold): Among the former bank workers who spoke out was Chris Feener, an ex-employee with 15 years' experience in the industry who worked in BofA's collections department. The department's #1 priority, said Chris, was to collect payment from customers who hadn't made a payment on their credit card for 180 days--no matter the cost. "There was a time I was encouraged to tell an elderly woman to sell her stove and cook on a Bunsen burner to pay off her credit card debt that [the bank] had inflated over time," said Chris.

The questionable practices BofA employees were made to engage in to ensure their jobs were safe didn't stop there, for Chris and his coworkers. "In 2007 when BofA's numbers were particularly low, we were given scripts to read on our customers' answering machines, threatening to sue them or collect any assets they had if they didn't," he said. "It was called the Maxwell message, and for three months straight we used that method, forcing customers needlessly to file for bankruptcy."

And that's not all! Enter more violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Chris says he and his team members were pushed to do if a customer had a delinquent account: publicly humiliate the customer to shame them into paying. "We were required to call every customers neighbor on every account--the sole purpose was to embarrass the customer and encourage the neighbor to personally bring a phone note to the neighbor to deliver the messages for us."

The BofA bank workers who shared their stories all acknowledged they felt as though the practices like the ones described above were unethical. But one should not underestimate how powerful the pressure to "sell, sell, sell" can be when it comes from a person of authority, like one's manager--or an entire institution (like Bank of America). Without any real whistleblower protections, most workers are too afraid to speak up for fearing of losing their job--something no one supporting themselves in this dismal economy can afford to chance.

SEIU, U.S. PIRG and the National Association of Consumer Advocates have outlined new protections to ensure front-line bank workers can speak out and create a financial industry that puts consumers and the health of our overall economy ahead of quick profits for bank executives. Read them here. "It's clear that big bank executives and the U.S. Chamber will stop at nothing to stand in the way of real solutions for our economy," says Anna Burger. "That's why it's more important than ever that bank workers be a part of any financial reform package."

Yesterday SEIU launched an online campaign asking senators to stand with working people, not greedy CEOs, on the Employee Free Choice Act.  The Huffington Post wrote of our campaign:

One of the nation's largest unions is making a significant ad purchase targeting four Democrats and one Republican Senator on the Employee Free Choice Act.

Targeting Democratic Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Jim Webb of Virginia, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, as well as Republican David Vitter of Louisiana, the message is at once effective and sharp: To oppose the labor-backed legislation would be to side with the institutions that create the current economic malaise.

Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, stand with Arkansas' working people, not greedy CEOs

Arkansas

Louisiana

Pennsylvania

Virginia

Last week hundreds of CEOs and other businesspeople flew to Washington, DC to pressure your senators. They want Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor to stand with the same greedy CEOs who wrecked our economy in the first place.

I need you to fight back. We just produced this ad making it clear that Senators Lincoln and Pryor can't stand with CEOs. Write your message in support of working Arkansasans.

Some of the biggest corporations in America are lining up to fight the working people of Arkansas. They're spending millions of dollars - some of it your tax dollars from the bailouts! - to stop corporations from being held accountable.

They think that they can send in CEOs to make Senators Lincoln and Pryor forget about working people. With your help, we can make sure that doesn't happen.

Tell Senators Lincoln and Pryor to stand with working families and support the Employee Free Choice Act:

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Corporate lobbyists and executives are gearing up for their next round of attacks on the Employee Free Choice Act. But the next battle is bound to show them for who they are: greedy people who will do anything to hold onto their power.

In recent weeks, corporate groups have waged war to prevent workers from enjoying what CEOs take for granted: a contract.

Watch our "coming attraction" trailer for the new battle:

Anti-worker groups are now attacking the "first contract arbitration" portion of the Employee Free Choice Act. It seeks to stop employers from using endless foot-dragging against workers who have voted for a union, but have yet to secure a contract.

Their new line of attack is entirely hypocritical. Corporations use arbitration all the time, because for years, they've said it's a fast, inexpensive way to settle disputes.

It doesn't have to be a battle, but CEOs are doing all they can to stop the Employee Free Choice Act. To them, this is "Armageddon" and "the demise of a civilization." It's an epic battle that must be fought to preserve the status quo, and of course, their lavish lifestyles.

Tell your members of Congress that they need to support the Employee Free Choice Act. Tell them that they need to choose their constituents over the corrosive power of greed. We're counting on them to help level the playing field to improve the lives of the American people that they represent.

Watch the video and write to your members of Congress here: http://action.seiu.org/epicbattle

In a new round of attacks against the Employee Free Choice Act, corporate lobbyists and executives are showing their true, greedy selves.

In recent weeks, corporate lobbyist groups such as the Center for Union Facts, the Chamber of Commerce, and conservatives like Newt Gingrich, have waged war to prevent workers from enjoying what CEOs take for granted: a contract.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed today, and in a Politico op-ed from Newt Gingrich last month, anti-worker groups have attacked the "first contract arbitration" portion of the Employee Free Choice Act. That provision seeks to stop employers from using endless foot-dragging against workers who have voted for a union, but have yet to secure a contract. The legislation says that if employers and workers can't reach an agreement in a reasonable amount of time - 120 days - either side can bring in a neutral, private-sector arbitrator to settle the dispute.

Besides the foot-dragging, this assault on first contract arbitration is particularly disturbing for another reason: Corporations use arbitration all the time, because they say it's a fast, inexpensive way to settle disputes.

Here are just some of the quotes that opponents of Employee Free Choice have said about arbitration in the past:

"For more than 80 years, arbitration has helped Americans settle disputes fairly, quickly and inexpensively, without having to file a lawsuit or navigate the court system." - Lisa Rickard, president of the US Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform (4/2/08)

"Arbitration is mutually beneficial, which is what we have always thought." - Arne Wagner, assistant general counsel for Bank of America [ABA Journal, December 1994]

"[F]ederal policy... favors the use of arbitration as an efficient, effective, and less expensive means of resolving disputes...Arbitration, has served as an essential valve for the nation's overburdened civil justice system." - Letter to Senate Judiciary Committee signed by US Chamber of Commerce, Retail Industry Leaders Association, National Retail Federation, National Association of Manufacturers, Jackson Lewis, et al (2/7/08)

There's one position that CEOs have been fairly consistent on, however: if it allows them to hold on to their corporate power against working families, then they're all for it. Even if it means being a little "flexible" in their public stances.

"It's as if these guys got a windfall payoff for betting the family's savings on the wrong horse. A fundamental duty to shareholders has been violated, and we expect immediate action by the Boards of Directors to put a stop to these unmerited executive payouts," said SEIU President and SEIU Master Trust Chair Andy Stern.

In letters addressed to the Boards of Directors of 29 major companies in its investment portfolio, the SEIU Master Trust--a consortium of pension funds with approximately $1.3 billion in assets--demand that the companies' boards overhaul their executive compensation structure so top executives do not reap bonuses and other incentivized pay rewards regardless of the companies' performance. The SEIU Master Trust argues that corporate compensation payments based on false economic metrics may be recovered under U.S. Law, and asks the companies to overhaul executive compensation practices to better align them with corporate performance.

Since 2005, the top five most highly paid executives at the 29 financial services firms received a total of more than $3.5 billion in cash and equity pay, and over $1.5 billion in stock options. The companies include the most well-known names in banking, insurance, and financial services, such as AIG, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co. American Express and Goldman Sachs.

"The recent collapse of the companies' stock prices show that the economic metrics used by the boards in justifying these compensation payments were worthless, and that the companies' stock prices were artificially inflated," said Stephen Abrecht, Executive Director of the SEIU Master Trust.

Click here to review the complete list of the 29 companies in the SEIU Master Trust portfolio receiving letters.

In recent weeks, there's been a growing chorus of public outrage over the lavish bonuses paid to bank executives like Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, whose self-serving profit schemes and risky financial deals led to today's economic collapse. After spending billions to bailout big banks for their bad behavior, taxpayers are making their voices heard in the streets, in the halls of Congress, and through online campaigns to say: Enough is enough. It's time to close the chapter on corporate excess, restore America's middle class, and create an economy that works for everyone.

This month, in a series of grassroots actions and advocacy efforts, American taxpayers are turning up the heat on Bank of America, the largest financial institution and the poster child of the kind of corporate excess and dangerous profit schemes that must come to an end if we are to rebuild an economy with strength that can last.

Leading up to Bank of America's annual shareholder meeting on April 29, consumers, employees and shareholders will call for reform, from top to bottom, of Banks of America's practices of preying on consumers, abusing employees, and using their power in Washington to block pro-worker legislation that would help restore our economy and rebuild the Middle Class.

Taxpayer Actions against bank of America in April:

• Taxpayer Proxy Actions to Oust Ken Lewis and Reform the Banking Industry--Ahead of Bank of America's Annual shareholder meeting on April 29, a diverse group of labor, consumer advocacy and religious groups will be collecting thousands of "taxpayer proxies" from around the country, demanding shareholders take swift action to: (1) Fire Ken Lewis; (2) Commit to real financial reform; (3) Stop consumer abuses that hurt our communities; (4) Provide health insurance to all its employees; and (5) Stop lobbying against pro-worker legislation like the Employee Free Choice Act that would support working families and restore balance to our economy. Watch SEIU's Stephen Lerner on last night's The Ed Show on MSNBC preview the taxpayer proxy actions and talk about the critical role the Employee Free Choice Act will play to rebuild the American Middle Class.
• Bank of America Employees Speaking Out Against Abuses and Calling for Action--Just like taxpayers, Bank of America employees are starting to speak out against Bank of America's mistreatment of employees and dangerous sales practices of pushing debt on consumers. Bank workers can play a central role in reforming the industry, but they need whistleblower protection to sound the alarm on predatory sales practices that are bad for consumers and dangerous for our economy.
• Shareholder Pressure to Reform Bank of America from the Top Down--Yesterday, Change to Win Investment Group sent a letter to Bank of America's Board of Directors urging them to immediately recoup a total of $3.6 billion rewarded to Merrill Lynch executives in December 2008--even after the same executives led Merrill to lose a total of $27.6 billion in 2008.
• Shareholder Resolution to Oust Ken Lewis--A growing number of Bank of America shareholder are calling for Ken Lewis to step down as both President and CEO and urging Bank of America to re-examine practices that are destabilizing our economy.
• Pressuring Government to Regulate TARP Recipients--Labor and consumer groups will continue urging Government to stop Bank of America and other TARP recipients from using taxpayer funds to lobby against taxpayer interests. Today, in a panel discussion with progressive economists, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger spoke about the urgent need regulating TARP recipients, warning that "People have been feeling robbed at every turn by the big banks, and there's zero patience for anything that looks or sounds like more of the same."

The bottom line is this: we're never going to fix America's economy if we continue to allow the same failed leaders to promote the same failed policies. More than 80 percent of Americans believe that financial institutions like Bank of America are to blame for today's financial crisis. It's time to expose Bank of America's abuse of consumers, mistreatment of employees, and dangerous self-serving profit model.

Right now, Colorado CEOs are flying to Washington, DC to march on the offices of Colorado Senators Michael Bennet & Mark Udall. The CEOs - accompanied by corporate lobbyists - will demand that our senators refuse to level the playing field for Colorado's workers.

These CEOs are perfectly content with more of the same for our economy. They don't want to see our senators vote for the Employee Free Choice Act because they know it will help working people.

We need to stand up and tell our senators to focus on what matters. Senators Bennet and Udall should listen to workers, not CEOs, about how to fix our broken economy.

Click here to email your senators and ask them to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

Even before the recession began, middle class families were in trouble. Now faced with mounting unemployment rates, lost job hours and income, and no retirement security, we need to tell Senators Udall and Bennet to stand up for working people and support the Employee Free Choice Act.

That's why you need to write Mark Udall and Michael Bennet right now to let them know that Colorado needs the Employee Free Choice Act. If the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law, more Coloradans would be able to negotiate for health care and benefits, putting an extra $237 million per year in the pockets of working Coloradans, money that will help boost the economy.

In these times, that's the kind of boost that everyone could use.

Please write Michael Bennet and Mark Udall right now. We need an economy that works for everyone, not just CEOs.

Despite efforts by the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR)--the lobbying organization for banking and financial industries--to keep the location of their spring meeting secret, a group of spirited protesters found them yesterday in Washington, D.C. at the luxury hotel Park Hyatt in Georgetown.

"How did they get in here?" That's what the woman staffing the FSR spring meeting wanted to know. She and meeting attendees like Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf were clearly agitated and miffed when they realized that a group of outraged taxpayers entered the posh hotel where the meeting was being held.

Dressed in black with shirts that read "Bailout Watchdog Team" and name tags that read "Taxpayer," the spirited protesters marched into the hotel like they belonged there. And seeing how FSR members have taken more than $203 billion in bailout money as TARP recipients, it seems like the taxpayers who found the "secret" meeting place had every right to be there.

But that's not how FSR saw it. They freaked out when the crime scene tape went up and the giant eviction notice was delivered to the FSR lunch area, along with hundreds of pink slips for the bank executives who have gotten bailouts while taxpayers keep getting sold out. The protest caught the attention of financial executives.

Throughout the lobby, hallways and restaurant, you could hear guys in suits chattering about the "Bailout Watchdog Team" and crime scene tape. When last seen, CEO Stumpf was engaged in an animated discussion with the FSR staffer in charge of making sure that the security team showed the taxpayers to the door.

FSR had originally planned to hold its spring meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Beach Resort in Naples, FL, that includes three miles of white-sand beaches, a 51,000 square-foot spa, golf course, three pools, and six restaurants; where rooms start at $530 per night. What changed their minds into moving the meeting to an 'undisclosed location' in Washington, DC, you may be wondering. The answer: labor coalition Change to Win found out about the bank CEOs' plans to meet in Florida on the taxpayer's dime to continue to push their anti-worker agenda and wasted no time blowing the whistle on FSR's egregious misuse of U.S. taxpayer's bailout funds.

Change to Win chair and SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger wrote a letter to FSR President and CEO Steve Bartlett, in which she outlined why the meeting was a bad idea and urged him to reconsider. Here's a quick excerpt:

Any private use of taxpayer funds to influence the political process, whether by individual TARP recipients or the industry association they fund, raises serious questions. But partisan political activity by the Roundtable and its members with respect to Employee Free Choice crosses the line and constitutes an indefensible abuse of taxpayer money. It violates the intent of Congress, conflicts with Obama Administration policies prohibiting government contractors from using federal funds to oppose union organizing and throws a body blow to the working men and women who are paying for the bailout and whose economic security has already been ravaged by the excesses of your members.

The Roundtable's decision to move their three-day meeting-whose invitees included Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., FDIC chair Sheila Bair, and SEC chair Mary Schapiro-made in response to Burger's letter was first reported in the Los Angeles Times.

As public anger erupts at over bonuses to AIG executives and almost daily revelations of abuses by Wall Street giants, we're channeling our frustration and anger into action that can make a difference. In just the last two days, thousands of people have signed up to march on major banks and other corporations including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. There will be more than 10,000 people in the streets at 150 bank locations in 35 states across the country this Thursday, March 19.

In the first national protests since the federal bailouts began, working families and a broad coalition of community groups are sending a message to Congress that we've had enough of corporate greed and lack of accountability. With the CEO of "Bailout King" AIG testifying in front of Congress today about his company's $165 million bailout-funded bonuses, it's more important than ever for us to mobilize against corporate excess.

It's time for real change, and we need solutions that will help build a strong, sustainable economy that works for everyone: the Employee Free Choice Act; affordable, quality health care for all; and strong banking reforms.

Please tell everyone you know about our actions at banks tomorrow. Click here to send an email to your friends.

See you in the streets tomorrow.

For more information on actions happening across the country, please visit www.TakeBackTheEconomy.org.

Want to get an idea of the public support of the Employee Free Choice Act?

In the first week of February, both sides sent their troops to Washington to lobby in well-publicized events. Union workers delivered a petition with more than a million signatures supporting the act. The National Association of Manufacturers dispatched 50 chief executives.

One million working people in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act, or 50 CEOs opposed to it.

The latest public poll showed 73% support the bill while only 21% oppose it; that's not quite as stark as the contrast on the Hill earlier this month, but Congress should get the picture anyway.

A group of SEIU members are on the Hill this morning, calling on Congress to prevent companies that are receiving massive taxpayer subsidies from spending money on lobbying that may pit their corporate interests, and the interests of highly compensated CEOs, against taxpayers' interests.

While taking taxpayer money, bailout recipients like Bank of America & Merrill Lynch have continued to lobby--through their trade association memberships--to block consumer protection measures, predatory lending regulations, and the Employee Free Choice Act, a measure that would ensure workers the freedom to form a union for a voice for improved wages, benefits, and working conditions. Beyond the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), some bailout recipients--who fail to provide affordable healthcare or a living wage to their employees--are dipping into additional federal coffers, forcing thousands of employees to seek healthcare through taxpayer funded programs like Medicaid and food stamps.

Watch the C-SPAN live hearing as CEOs from eight major banks that received $125 billion in taxpayer bailout funds are called before Congress to account for their use of the funds.

UPDATE, @5PM: The hearing is over now, but you can still watch the testimony of the CEOs whose companies received the first TARP funds explain how they used the bailout money before the House Financial Services Committee.
> Watch the TARP hearing's morning session here and the afternoon hearing session here.

"I just returned from Davos and the inability of leaders of the business community to take responsibility was everywhere, and it was disappointing...Too many leaders tried to justify their own or companies behavior rather than admit that the system they promoted that had made them wealthy, while creating gross inequities, and economic calamities was flawed," wrote SEIU President Andy Stern last week on the Washington Post's "On Leadership" online forum.

Andy records a video in a workshop at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Flickr Photo © 2009 Robert Scoble

"When Barack Obama raised his voice we saw what real leadership means. Is it any wonder that the public has less trust in big business than it had in President Bush when he left office?"

Stern recently returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he was a participant in two panels, "Renewing Trust in Corporations" and "Power to the People: Politics in the Internet Age."

In this YouTube clip recorded in Davos, Andy Stern discusses whether company executives should have a code of ethics. Watch it now:

Here's what you saw today if you're a Member of Congress. 

This afternoon, more than 2,000 working people rallied outside the Senate in support of an important part of our economic recovery: the Employee Free Choice Act.  At that rally more than 1 million cards signed by people who support the Employee Free Choice Act were delivered to Members of Congress.  It was a true show of the broad public support for this bill. 

Meanwhile, in the halls of Congress, CEOs are having their "Executive Lobby Day" so they can spread lies and misinformation in order to keep wages down and perpetuate inequality.  How do we know what they'll say?  Because we went into one of their presentations at a California country club in which top anti-worker lawyers met with business leaders, and captured video of how they talk about defeating the Employee Free Choice Act (check out the video up top!).

What do CEOs say about working people behind closed doors at the country clubs?  Well, they're first interested in protecting their own interests.  In the presentation, one lawyer from the top anti-employee firm Jackson Lewis told the business leaders that "your choice goes away," because under the Employee Free Choice Act, when workers say they want a union, the workers get a union.  

That's a feature, not a bug.

The purpose of the Employee Free Choice Act is to give the choice of forming unions to workers.  Right now, it's up to CEOs if workers can form a union.  The choice should be that of employees, not their bosses.  And giving that workers that choice will be key to our economic recovery. 

Business leaders and CEOs are developing a new strategy to combat the Employee Free Choice Act: threaten to take jobs overseas and divest from America.

Failed Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney said as much this morning:

It is an idea that would have devastating impact on the economy--short term and long term. It would lead investors to send their funds elsewhere, businesses to expand elsewhere and jobs to relocate elsewhere.

Gary Shapiro, the President of the Consumer Electronics Association, said basically the same thing earlier in the week:

"A fast-moving, successful tech company with differential compensation and incentive compensation and the need to adapt quickly is inconsistent with the straitjacket of a union environment. The tech industry executives I represent simply can't believe Congress would enact a card-check law that could force jobs overseas."

The Employee Free Choice Act is a strong economic solution that will help millions of working Americans get better wages and benefits. This kind of attack against the Employee Free Choice Act is the equivalent of CEOs taking their ball and going home.

Let's be clear: the only thing that would force jobs overseas are greedy CEOs who don't want to see America be successful. We need the Employee Free Choice Act to help America's workers, and CEOs should not be allowed to take jobs overseas because of it.