Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein feels bad about crashing our economy. To make up for it, he's said he's sorry and has decided to give back $500 million of the money his company has made to small businesses.

It's a gesture so empty, it's insulting. Never mind that $500m is one good day of trading for Goldman Sachs. Never mind that it's less than 1% of what they got in taxpayer-funded assistance; or that it doesn't even compare to the $11.4 billion they paid themselves in the first half of 2009 alone.

What's really insulting is that it doesn't even begin to undo the damage Goldman Sachs has done to small businesses - like the Stella D'Oro bakery - in the last two years: http://action.seiu.org/helpstella

Yesterday, Lloyd Blankfein said he's committed to job creation. He should tell that to the 150 Stella D'Oro workers in New York who lost their jobs when a Goldman Sachs-owned company bought the business and shut it down. The workers, whose tax dollars bailed out Goldman, have tried to meet with Lloyd Blankfein repeatedly. They wanted to show him the harm he was doing to their already struggling community.

He didn't listen. Maybe we can get his attention. Will you call Goldman Sachs and ask them to use the tax dollars we gave him to help the workers at Stella D'Oro? http://action.seiu.org/helpstella

We gave Goldman Sachs $63 billion of our tax dollars so they could clean up the economic mess they created. But they've only made it worse. Call Goldman Sachs and tell them to stop with the PR stunts and start helping Stella D'Oro workers and all the small businesses they've forced under: http://action.seiu.org/helpstella

One of our favorite images from today's protest was a fabulous visual representation of Goldman Sachs, depicted as writer Matt Taibbi so richly described in Rolling Stone:

"The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money."

Every couple of minutes the squid would wrap its tentacles around a globe on a stick, adding to the hilarity of the image. Other rally visuals included with "wanted" posters for Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, as well as other handmade signs expressing taxpayers' desire for Congress to take immediate action on real financial reform:

Check out a photo slideshow of the protest:



Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein memorably said in an interview that he and the team at Goldman are "doing God's work." At today's protest, Reverend Tony Pierce, Board President of the Central Illinois Organizing Project, made a point to set the record straight on what God's work really is.

"When Goldman Sachs and Mr. Blankfein crashed our economy by inflating the housing bubble, that wasn't God's work. When they took $10 billion in bailouts--instead of using that money to stop foreclosures, to help the homeless and to rebuild local economies, when they instead used that money to enrich themselves--that's not God's work.

"When they're paying themselves $23 billion in bonuses, that's not God's work. In fact, I don't even believe by that action they even know what God's work is."

Public Citizen President Robert Weissman rallied protesters with his stark truth on how bailed out banks and the financial industry continue to try to buy Congress and fight reform:

Even though they've crashed the national economy, even though they've destroyed their own industry, even though they've taken trillions of dollars from public support to stay in business, nothing has changed in the way that Wall Street does business: They are still showering money on Congress.

Weissman revealed to the crowd that Wall Street has deluged roughly 2.5 times more money on members of Congress who sit on the financial services & banking committee than other members of Congress. This money results in bigtime payouts from Congress and the Treasury Department. "Because after all, you don't go to Wall Street to do God's work, you go to Wall Street for money," said Weissman.

The protest ended with the delivery of a poster-sized letter addressed to Blankfein proposing use their anticipated $23 billion bonus pool to help families facing foreclosure.

For a Twitterific recap of the action, check out our live tweets from the ground:

Update: Video is below, check out our Flickr page for photos.

Goldman Sachs is starting to figure it out - we're not going away. Today, on the heels of a massive mobilization in Chicago, hundreds of taxpayers rallied outside Goldman's DC office to deliver a letter for their CEO, Lloyd Blankfein. The letter asked that Goldman Sachs forgo paying out its multi-billion dollar bonus pool and instead use that money to help the millions of families facing foreclosure due to Wall Street's risky behavior.

SEIU President Andy Stern spoke at the event, condemning what he called the "Goldman Rule"; those who have the gold get to make the rules. "Companies like Goldman Sachs seem to love their company more than their country," he said. "And in the name of maximizing profits and their huge bonuses, they will foreclose on our homes and take jobs from our families while short selling America without a second thought. The $23 billion dollars Goldman is planning to pay out in bonuses could prevent every single expected foreclosure in America in 2010."

Members from National People's Action came from across the country to attend the rally. NPA executive director George Goehl said Lloyd Blankfein and Goldman Sachs have earned the leading role in the story of "all that is wrong with Wall Street. Now is the time for them to start making amends for past transgressions. A good first step would include showing a little holiday spirit by directing a significant portion of their estimated $23 billion-dollar bonus pool to a fund to prevent foreclosure. It's the least they could do."

Here's a video wrap-up of today's action:

Hundreds of taxpayers from across the country are gathered outside the Goldman Sachs office in DC right now to speak out against the financial giant's Wall Street greed. We'll be delivering a letter to Goldman CEO Lloyd Blanfein asking him, once again, to stop paying himself and his cronies big bonuses and to start helping the millions of families losing their homes because of Wall Street's risky behavior. From the letter:

Every billion dollars in bonus compensation you direct to preventing foreclosure could save 200,000 families from losing their homes. For just 10% of your bonus pool you could both prevent those 200,000 families from losing their homes and lift an additional 100,000 families out of poverty because they lost their jobs in the recession. Imagine what could be done with half or all of your bonus compensation pool. Donating the entire Goldman Sachs 2009 bonus pool would prevent every single anticipated foreclosure in America in 2010, and Goldman Sachs would lift one million American families out of poverty at the same time.

Keep checking back to SEIU.org for photos, video, and updates from the rally. And make sure to follow @SEIU on Twitter for live updates from the action.

I am here today because I love America.

I love the America where women like Maria, a janitor from Chicago, who worked hard her whole life--paid her taxes, saved her money--could not only purchase a home for herself, but also could lend her brother money and co-sign his loan so he too, could buy a home for his family.

But then Maria's brother was laid off and a few weeks ago, his unemployment benefits ran out. The bank refused to rework the loan, foreclosed on her brother, and now Maria is facing the same possibility.

Where were Goldman, and Blankfein, and the rest of the masters of the universe when Maria's family needed help? Out to lunch and out of touch; gorging themselves on 23 billion dollars of bonuses made possible by Maria and the rest of the hard working Americans who contributed our tax dollars to rescue Goldman and the economy.

Is that the America we want?

Is that the America we need?

But, sadly, for Maria and the 14,000--14,000--hard-working, taxpaying American's who will lose their home today; the American Dream has become an American nightmare.

Why? Because companies like Goldman Sachs, seem to love their company more than their country.

Goldman Sachs seems to salute no flag, but rather their own corporate logo.

And in the name of maximizing profits and their huge bonuses, they will foreclose on our homes and take jobs from our families--while short-selling America without a second thought.

Goldman Sachs has become so callous--and so greedy--that they just issued a report on health care reform recommending, and I quote, "as far as the bottom line for insurance companies is concerned, the best thing is to do nothing." Nothing!

Goldman: Do you understand what nothing meant to Charlie Lang from Connecticut whose mother was diagnosed with lung cancer?

The doctors told Charlie and his mother that they wanted to remove her tumor so that she would have a chance of surviving.

But after the insurance company did nothing--refused to pay for the operation--and the family could not raise the money, Charlie's mother died.

Failure to pass healthcare reform, Lloyd Blankfein, simply means more people will suffer and die!

Goldman Sachs--is the wealth of your company more important than Charlie's mom and the health of our country?

Shame!

And the final outrage is that CEO Blankfein has justified his unpatriotic actions by claiming that he is "...doing god's work."

Have you no decency? Goldman and Blankfein seem to worship no God but the almighty dollar, and have twisted Jesus' intentions in the Book of Luke's golden rule of "...doing onto others" with the Goldman rule--he who has the gold makes the rules!

Goldman Sachs: It is not God's work to kick families out into the street.

It is not God's work to leave people without health insurance.

It is not God's work to put greed over human need and use other people's money to pay yourself huge bonuses.

Lloyd Blankfein, you have forgotten the lesson of Timothy 6:10: "For the love of money is the root of all evil."

Today we call upon Goldman Sachs to place those 23 billion dollars of bonuses into a fund to help Americans in their time of need. To put country over company. To truly be your brother's and sister's keeper.

Those 23 billion dollars could prevent every single foreclosure in America in 2010.

That would truly be God's work--and the American way.

That is the America we want!

Last week, we posted a story on the blog about a Goldman Sachs exec quoting the Bible to justify their behavior. I didn't feel comfortable saying he was flat-out wrong, instead I just gave a few Bible passages for context and let people make up their own minds.

Then, on Sunday, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said in an interview that he and the team at Goldman are "doing God's work." I now feel completely comfortable saying that Goldman Sachs is not, in fact, doing God's work. (And I'm not alone.)

It isn't God's work to kick families out of their homes when they're struggling most. It isn't God's work to use other people's money to pay themselves obscene bonuses. And it isn't God's work to oppose health insurance reform because it's bad for the bottom line.

That's right. Goldman Sachs is now getting involved with the health care debate. From the Huffington Post:

A Goldman Sachs analysis of health care legislation has concluded that, as far as the bottom line for insurance companies is concerned, the best thing to do is nothing. A close second would be passing a watered-down version of the Senate Finance Committee's bill.

Forget fixing our health care system; according to Goldman's report, it's all about how to get big insurance companies rich(er). There is actually a graph included in the report that shows the number of dollars flowing to insurance companies rising as the number of lives insured drops.

We cannot let Goldman Sachs and the other big banks get away with this. People should be out in the street, demanding answers. And, on Monday, we will. SEIU President Andy Stern is joining National People's Action and hundreds of taxpayers from across the country in Washington, DC to rally outside Goldman Sachs' office on Capitol Hill.

We meet at 101 Constitution Ave. NW at noon. I hope to see you there.

I have been going to church for many, many years. And, I have to say, this is not something I've ever heard preached from the pulpit before.

Bloomberg reports that, last night, executives from the big banks went to churches across London to spread the word that their billion dollar bonuses are actually inspired by biblical teachings. According to Goldman Sachs bigwig Brian Griffiths, Jesus' teachings were an "endorsement of self-interest." He went on to say, "we have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieving greater prosperity and opportunity for all."

The term "inequality" doesn't even begin to describe the situation, though. Wall Street banks - Goldman Sachs included - are still paying out record bonuses in the billions of dollars. In fact, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein was one of the highest paid executives in the country last year. All this while millions of Americans are filing for bankruptcy, foreclosures are at record high rates, and unemployment has skyrocketed - largely due to the risky behaviors of these big banks.

That's not just inequality, that's injustice.

I don't pretend to be an expert on religious teachings; and I wouldn't dare presume to know what Jesus thinks of Wall Street's behavior. I want, instead, to post a few Bible passages that address this subject directly:

35 ' If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.
36 'Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.
37 'You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. (Leviticus 25:35-37)

17 Who has withdrawn his hand from the poor And not received usury or increase, But has executed My judgments And walked in My statutes -- He shall not die for the iniquity of his father; He shall surely live! (Ezekiel 18:17)

10 "I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury!
11 "Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them." (Nehemiah 5:10,11)

It's up to us, regardless of our faith, to decide if we want to live in a country that allows this behavior to continue.

McClatchy Newspapers has launched a multi-part exposé on financial giant Goldman Sachs and their role in the economic collapse. For the millions of Americans who - until recently - had never heard of Goldman Sachs, let alone done business with them, it's a sobering look at how the banking leviathan has managed to take our money from us six ways to Sunday.

Yesterday's article from McClatchy looks at why Goldman, above all others, seemed to walk away from the financial crisis relatively unscathed. What they find isn't particularly new information: Goldman Sachs was buying up dangerously lax mortgage agreements with one hand, and placing bets that they would fail with the other.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. According to McClatchy, Goldman Sachs:

• Bought and converted into high-yield bonds tens of thousands of mortgages from subprime lenders that became the subjects of FBI investigations into whether they'd misled borrowers or exaggerated applicants' incomes to justify making hefty loans.


• Used offshore tax havens to shuffle its mortgage-backed securities to institutions worldwide, including European and Asian banks, often in secret deals run through the Cayman Islands, a British territory in the Caribbean that companies use to bypass U.S. disclosure requirements.


• Has dispatched lawyers across the country to repossess homes from bankrupt or financially struggling individuals, many of whom lacked sufficient credit or income but got subprime mortgages anyway because Wall Street made it easy for them to qualify.


• Was buoyed last fall by key federal bailout decisions, at least two of which involved then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a former Goldman chief executive whose staff at Treasury included several other Goldman alumni.

[emphasis mine]

On its own, it's infuriating. They didn't just find the loopholes, they created them to make sure they never had to face the consequences of their actions. But, what's really upsetting is reading about how millions of unsuspecting Americans got caught up in Goldman's financial shell game. From today's McClatchy piece:

Goldman spent years buying hundreds of thousands of subprime mortgages, many of them from some of the more unsavory lenders in the business, and packaging them into high-yield bonds. Now that the bottom has fallen out of that market, Goldman finds itself in a different role: as the big banker that takes homes away from folks such as the Beckers.

[The Becker family of California] alleges that Goldman declined for three years to confirm their suspicions that it had bought their mortgages from a subprime lender, even after they wrote to Goldman's then-Chief Executive Henry Paulson - later U.S. Treasury secretary - in 2003.

Unable to identify a lender, the couple could neither capitalize on a mortgage hardship provision that would allow them to defer some payments, nor on a state law enabling them to offset their debt against separate, investment-related claims against Goldman.

[emphasis mine]

Goldman is now employing the same tricks they used gaming the financial system to dupe working families. These are families that never signed a single contract with Goldman Sachs, but watched their financial future bought and sold up the banking food chain until it reached Goldman as nothing more than one cell of data in a massive spreadsheet.

Of course, each cell of that spreadsheet is actually a person. And each one of those people has a life story. And as we speak, those stories are being drastically rewritten by Goldman Sachs and their cronies on Wall Street.

For millions of families, the ending is not going to be a happy one.

The protests at the American Bankers Association Conference in Chicago may have finished on Tuesday, but the campaign to demand that big banks stop using our tax dollars to lobby against financial reform is far from over. Big banks took $17.8 trillion in taxpayer bailouts and then turned around and spent $35 million of the taxpayers' money fighting reform and lobbying against the most basic measures to protect consumers.

Adding to the frustration of the situation is the complete lack of responsibility the delegates from the American Bankers' Association accept for the financial crisis their banks' harmful business practices perpetuated. "Bankers care," the ABA's chairman, Arthur Connelly, told more than 1,000 senior executives from banks across the nation gathered at their annual convention in Chicago. "We want to make life better in our communities...[and] traditional banks are the solution to getting this country back on track."

Newsflash, Mr. Connelly: Taxpayers (and their empty wallets, foreclosed homes, and drained pensions) beg to differ. The ABA's annual convention in Chicago was the scene for the series of major protests this week, as thousands demonstrated to show just how sick and tired they are of having big banks treat them like personal ATMs. We're still enjoying the amazing visuals that resulted from the five demonstrations held outside the ABA convention, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs in downtown Chicago. Check out the photos from the October 27th march and rally, which mobilized 5,000 taxpayers to take to the streets:

You can check out photos from the four other demonstrations protesting the ABA, Well Fargo and Goldman Sachs after the break.

To see our live updates and blog posts from the Showdown in Chicago, visit SEIU's Blog here.

While thousands of Americans were delivering a letter to Goldman Sachs on Sunday demanding they stop using our tax dollars to lobby against financial reform, Goldman Sachs was ...using our tax dollars to lobby against financial reform.

Matt Taibbi has an excellent find on his blog at True/Slant about a Goldman Sachs lobbying document being circulated to US senators right now. From the document (via Taibbi's blog):

"ALTERNATIVE TRADING PLATFORMS AND THEIR EFFECT ON LIQUIDITY

The equity markets provide perhaps the best example of a highly evolved complex ecosystem, where care must be taken to preserve the benefits that have evolved from competition and innovation...

Crucially, liquidity is what helps to solve this mismatch problem. Market makers that see large volumes are best positioned to match differing size transactions. In traditional exchange trading, bids and offers are public, and this transparency helps buyers and sellers to achieve the best price.

For some market participants, however, the openness and transparency of the equity market actually mean they are unlikely to achieve the best price. The risk, particularly for large transactions such as those undertaken by pension funds or large mutual funds (where most small investors have most of their equity exposure), is that other market participants will use this transparency to undercut the intended transactions."

From a Goldman Sachs lobbying document (emphasis mine)

This is... wow. Take a minute to soak this up. The big banks are arguing that allowing for openness and transparency would be bad for the shadow markets they've created, because it might cause them to make less money on each trade. Currently, they trade stocks in something they've termed "dark pools." Dark pools are a creative accounting trick to sell large amounts of stock to people without having to disclose to them the risk of their stock's value plummeting.

Most reasonable people get uncomfortable just hearing the term "dark pools." But, the Wall Street bankers love them. Because, while they create losses for most of the people involved, the folks at the top clean up nicely on these deals. Sort of like how pyramid scams work.

This is the exact type of behavior the fueled the economic collapse. It's still going on as we speak. And here's the worst part: banks are using the money that they got from bailouts to help fund the entire scheme.

My apologies if I just spoiled your appetite before lunch.

The working people taking to the streets this week in the Showdown of Chicago think the amount of money the ABA is spending to lobby against the Consumer Financial Protection Agency is downright scary. To drive their point home, some protesters donned their "Scary Movie"-like costumes a week before Halloween:

At the grand finale of Day 3 of the Showdown in Chicago, a group of protesters dressed like the Grim Reaper held plastic knives that read "making a killing" and "death bonds" at today's protest in front of the American Banking Association's meeting place the Sheraton Hotel, following the protests in front of Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo.

As the lobbying arm of the American banking industry, the ABA's members include the big banks that helped cause the crisis that has resulted in widespread economic devastation and led to $17.8 trillion in taxpayer funded bailouts and backstops for the banks. These banks include Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citibank, which together account for 60% of all bank industry assets and mortgages in the U.S---and all received TARP money.

Now the ABA is spending millions of dollars to obstruct meaningful financial reform. Taking on the banksters has never been so imperative---and tomorrow's Showdown in Chicago will be the biggest event so far this week, where roughly 5,000 union members, farmers, small business owners and activists will descend upon the ABA's annual meeting to demand an end to bank's greed.

The march begins at the corner of Stetson and Wacker Drive at 10:30, followed by a march to the Sheraton, and will also feature speeches by Andy Stern, Anna Burger and Tom Balanoff. Will you join us in making our voices heard?

Outside the ABA conference today are more than 1,000 people with more than 1,000 stories of bank greed hurting families and small businesses. I wanted to share one in particular that grabbed me.

Meet Mary from Cincinnati:

Updated: Video now included below

More than 1,000 taxpayers decided to take a walk down Wacker Drive to see how their money is being used by America's bailed out banks - and to ask for a few changes to prevent another financial meltdown.

Having tried to deliver our letter to the ABA last night and being kicked out, we went directly to the banks today - Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo. The demand, as always, is a simple one: stop using our tax dollars for toxic loans, big bonuses, and anti-consumer lobbying campaigns.

Both banks took our letter. We're two for two right now. With a streak like that, why not try our friends at the ABA one more time? The crowd is headed back to the ABA conference with the letter in hand. Will we go three for three today? Or will the big bank lobbyists give us another cold shoulder?

The rally outside of Goldman Sachs stretched more than a block long:

From inside Wells Fargo:

Here's a new video up from Tom Balanoff's speech at the Showdown in Chicago. He kept the crowd on their feet the entire time. Definitely worth checking out:

Next week, the members of the American Bankers Association (ABA) are congregating at the Sheraton in downtown Chicago for their annual conference, with appearances by conservative Republican commentators Newt Gingrich and George Will. During the three-day conference, SEIU, Action Now, National People's Action, and dozens of other activist organizations will hold a series of events highlighting the growing discontent with big banks and their over-reliance on greed and profits at taxpayers' expense.

On the Huffington Post, SEIU's Anna Burger discusses why progressives won't be letting the banksters party in peace this Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in Chicago:

The financial section of the newspaper is starting to read like the script for a far-fetched crime movie. A group of villains hatch a plot to steal trillions of dollars from unsuspecting Americans. They drive the country into economic chaos, funnel money from families and small businesses into their own pockets, then leave all of us to clean up their mess. And not only do they get away with it, they pay themselves billion dollar bonuses and throw lavish parties to celebrate their conquest.

But this isn't a movie, it's really happening. Wall Street bankers have taken $17.8 trillion of our tax dollars through bailouts and turned them into massive pay and bonuses for themselves. Goldman Sachs alone is expected to pay more than $23 billion just in bonuses this year; that's more than $43,000 a minute, every minute.

So, my question to you is: if you could get all the architects of this scam together in one place, what would you say to them?

Hurry up and decide, because they're all getting together in Chicago this weekend -- and we're headed there to meet them.

The big bank execs are gathering in the Windy City for the American Bankers Association conference. It's a four day celebration of wealth and opulence; some of the items on the agenda include a roaring 1920s swing dancing party, a luxurious riverboat cruise, and celebrity appearances from Newt Gingrich and George Will. And it's all funded with our tax dollars.

Read the rest of Anna's piece on Huffington Post here.

Full report on ABA's actions to lobby against financial reform here. Check out the schedule of the three days of actions in Chicago here, as well as after the break.

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:

Goldman Sachs's Griffiths Says Pay 'Inequality' Helps Everyone

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.

Congress took a step towards cracking down on corporate and big bank CEO pay today, as the House passed the Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act of 2009 by a 237-to-185 vote. Today's vote to restrict risky compensation and bonuses would apply to any company with more than $1 billion in assets. It follows mind-boggling report on Thursday that nine of the country's biggest banks--all receiving billions of dollars in bailout funds--had 'awarded' roughly 4,800 million-dollar-plus bonuses.

Today, the average CEO today makes in one day what the average worker is paid in one year. Employment compensation for workers in this country has grown over the past 12 months by the lowest amount on record--a stark reality that stands in direct contrast to the skyrocketing CEO pay and bonuses that have not slowed since our economic crisis hit. Here's a visual to help illustrate our point:

The Penthouse View vs. The Main Street Reality

Bonuses at big banks have even outpaced earnings. CBS News reports that while Goldman Sachs earned $2.3 billion last year and received $10 billion in TARP funds they paid out $4.8 billion in bonuses--more than double their income. "America is not living up to its promise when one of the architects of the economic crisis gets paid billions in bonuses for his failures while his employees take home wages barely above the poverty level," said SEIU President Andy Stern.

The House passage of the bill is an important step to correct the enormous disparity between those at the top and regular working Americans, but much more needs to be done to help Main Street recover. SEIU is calling on lawmakers to pass the Employee Free Choice Act as an essential way to rein in reckless CEOs and corporate greed and speed up economic recovery.

"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.

If you've been following our blog, you've no doubt heard about last year's anti-Employee Free Choice call sponsored by Bank of America. As you'll remember, just three days after receiving its first set of bailout funds - $45 billion in total - participants on the call were encouraged to send "large contributions" to groups working to block passage of the bill.

Since that time, a number of groups have followed Bank of America's path. Rather than focusing on paying the American people back, they've instead used their resources to lobby against measures that would improve the lives of their new investors - us.

Here's a quick look at a few of these groups, in addition to Bank of America:

AIG

The American International Group has received the largest of all taxpayer bailouts, at a total cost of $173 billion to the American people, who now own approximately 80% of the group.

More than $90 billion of AIG's bailout funds went towards paying numerous domstic and foreign banks, such as Bank of America and Citigroup. Both of these groups are part of a huge lobbying effort against laws that would benefit working families, such as Free Choice.

The Financial Services Roundtable

The Financial Services Roundtable (FSR) a special interests group that represents more than 90 companies in the finance and insurance industry, including the nation's largest banks and insurance companies. Their leadership includes Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and U.S. Bank.

In total, member companies have received an estimated $213.8 billion in taxpayer money. You could buy a lot of round tables with that kind of money.

In every quarter in 2008, the RSF has lobbied against the Employee Free Choice Act. And this year, they've banded together with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to make its defeat their top priority in 2009.

Citigroup

Since last year, Citi has received a total of $45 billion in taxpayer bailouts.
Following Bank of America's lead, they hosted a conference call to build opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act. The call, led by a senior executive at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, was held on March 11th.

Just a day before the call, Citigroup cited Free Choice as the reason to downgrade Wal-Mart's rating, leading to speculation that the move was politically motivated to try to paint the bill as anti-business.

Burger King

Goldman Sachs is one of the largest shareholders of Burger King, and along with private equity firms TPG and Bain Capital, control the Burger King board through seats on its executive committee. Goldman Sachs has received $10 billion in taxpayer bailouts.

Burger King's second largest franchisee is a unit of Cerberus Capital Management, the same private equity firm that also owns Chrysler. Chrysler has received $5.5 billion in taxpayer bailouts.

Today, the Employee Free Choice Act was introduced in Congress. Want some great reasons to support this bill that you've been hearing so much about? Here's five. (And if you already support it, please contact your Members of Congress and ask them to do the same.)

1. Because more jobs should be good jobs.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last year, it's no surprise that millions of Americans are out of work, losing their health care or their retirement money, or are otherwise in financial straits. Times are tough. And who's taking this economic crisis on the chin? Well, we are, of course.

Four million people have lost their jobs since the recession began in December 2007. It's not for lack of trying. In terms of productivity, people are working harder than ever-- but American workers still haven't gotten a raise. And while jobs and wages are down, the cost of living continues to rise: The average cost of family health insurance plan will go up to $24,000 by 2016. $24,000!

The Employee Free Choice Act says that workers should have the ability to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits--like affordable quality health care.

2. It's good for the economy.

One of the biggest reasons for our current economic crisis? People literally don't have the cash they need to buy goods and services--which would in turn help the economy. Higher wages and higher benefits would give workers the purchasing power they need to buy more of the goods and services that this economy produces. According to a February report from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, unionization could pump more than $49 billion into the economy.

But don't take it just from us. Last month, forty leading economists, including three Nobel prize winners, took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post offering their reasons for supporting the bill. In the ad, they argued that one of the main reasons for our economic slump is the "erosion of workers' ability to form unions and bargain collectively," that shifted the wealth of our country from "broadly-shared prosperity" to "growing inequality."

3. Barack Obama loves it, and so do most of you.

Not to mention Joe Biden, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, and majorities in both houses of Congress. And according to recent polling, 73% of the public supports it. Just last week, speaking in front of a labor gathering, President Obama vowed to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, stating,

"I have every confidence that if we are willing to do the difficult work that must be done, we will emerge from these trials stronger and more prosperous than we were before. And as we confront this crisis and work to provide health care to every American, rebuild our nation's infrastructure, move toward a clean energy economy, and pass the Employee Free Choice Act, I want you to know that you will always have a seat at the table."

What's not to love about that?

4. Because CEOs should be helping workers, not hurting them.

Want to get really depressed about your paycheck? Compare it to a CEO's. As a testament to the growing income disparity between CEOs and the workers they employ, look no further than Wal-Mart's former CEO, Lee Scott. Scott earned $15,000 an hour in 2007 while Wal-Mart workers earned just $10.68 an hour. On average, CEOs earn 344 times what their typical employee makes.

And yet, when Goldman Sachs received $10 billion in Wall St. bailout funds, they turned around and spent $6.5 billion on bonuses! If the Employee Free Choice Act passed, workers would have more of an opportunity to share in the prosperity they helped create.

5. Because the other side is really scary.

Or at least, they're trying their hardest to scare us. The corporate interests opposing the Employee Free Choice Act have warned of everything from rioting in the streets to, literally, Armageddon if the bill passes. For a sense of just how extreme the other side has gotten, check out our "scary movie" video here:

Corporate interests are bent on lying about the Employee Free Choice Act - they'd have you believe that the bill means the end of the secret ballot - but nothing could be further from the truth. The Employee Free Choice Act simply gives employees the choice to join unions - not the employers. Right now, workers can join unions through majority sign-up or a secret ballot election, and they can do so under the Employee Free Choice Act, too. The only difference is it will be the employees' choice, not the employers.

But don't take it from me - watch Rachel Maddow destruct this argument:

If you're as fired up as we are, go to SEIU.org and sign up to help. It's time for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Crossposted from the Huffington Post here.