Wall Street has a message for Americans who think it's unfair that they take our tax dollars and pay themselves huge bonuses: they need that money for all their hard work.

SEIU's Stephen Lerner went on CNBC today to debate a representative of Wall Street over the Obama administration's decision to cap exec pay at seven bailed out firms.

According to Reed Smith's John Martini, Americans need to stop "getting caught up" in this notion of fairness when it comes to Wall Street pay. Martini said the billions of dollars in pay and bonuses are required to keep attracting the talent that are responsible for big banks' success.

That begs the question: what success? As Lerner points out, it's the big banks that drove our country into a financial crisis; now they expect us to give them a multi-billion dollar pat on the back?

"People around the country are so tired of this myth that it's such a sacrifice to make a half a million dollars," said Lerner. "Next week at the bankers association meeting in Chicago from the 25th through the 27th, thousands are going to gather because they're sick and tired of the whining from people who make enormous sums of money and then say 'I'll quit my job if you don't give me a big bonus.'"

It's three very entertaining minutes of television. Take a look:

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.

Citigroup - recipient of $45 billion in bailout funds - apparently isn't feeling the economic crunch. In fact, it's considering paying a $100 million bonus to one of its employees, protesting that it can't tear up a contract.

Tell that to California state employees.

Almost 100,000 state employees in California are feeling the effects of California's budget crisis - facing furloughs and wage cuts, thousands of state employees are realizing the realities of today's economy.

SEIU's Stephen Lerner compares the two vastly different situations in a segment on CNBC. Watch it:

Late Friday afternoon, SEIU's Stephen Lerner debated the new executive compensation regulations approved by the House of Representatives on CNBC. Lerner argued that the insatiable desire for limitless pay and bonuses amounted to a Wall Street "Bizarro World."

Watch it:

It was reported last week that the top six U.S. banks set aside $74 billion in 2009 for bonuses and other compensation. In fact, 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.

Today, average CEO pay is 344 times higher than average pay for workers--the average CEO today makes in one day what the average worker is paid in a year. Skyrocketing CEO pay and bonuses have not slowed since our economic crisis hit.

While curbing excessive executive pay is an important first step, as SEIU President Andy Stern noted when the House passed its bill, "we need to act more boldly and more broadly to help Main Street recover."

"Congress must pass the Employee Free Choice Act to ensure that workers can negotiate for higher wages and benefits, hold corporate executives accountable, and win their piece of the American Dream," Stern concluded.

Today, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) will join Bank of America workers to speak out against predatory sales practices and a failed banking model and call for reforms that protect frontline bank workers and consumers.

Bank workers have had enough with the unrealistic sales decisions made at the top that hurt customers. But without a voice on the job and strong whistleblower protections, bank workers are unable to speak out publicly about being forced to push harmful products that lead to increased fees and financial traps for customers.

A story today in the AP quotes Stephen Lerner, who runs SEIU's financial reform project:

"One of the core parts of the economic collapse is a business model that encourages too much risk or short-term profit over long-term stability."

Lerner said employees under pressure to sell high-fee products ended up targeting vulnerable populations, including students and the elderly.

Stay tuned for how the call went later today.

Something remarkable happened yesterday. A majority of Bank of America's shareholders voted to oust Ken Lewis as Chairman of the company's board.

This is huge.

Shareholders cast an unprecedented vote of no confidence on Ken Lewis' leadership at Bank of America. It's the first step to real accountability at the financial giant.

Watch this video about yesterday's news and what we did around the country this week in support of accountability at Bank of America.

After weeks of advocating for major reforms at Bank of America we delivered more than 90,000 signed "taxpayer proxy cards" to the shareholder meeting yesterday. Allies like MoveOn.org, Brave New Films, True Majority, and many others were instrumental in the success of our actions.

Let's be clear: what happened yesterday is just the first step towards holding Bank of America accountable. Shareholders delivered a major vote of no confidence, but there's much more to be done.

While Ken Lewis is out as chairman of the board, he still remains the CEO of Bank of America. That's why we're calling on CEO Ken Lewis and new BofA Chairman Walter E. Massey to immediately implement these changes:

1. Commit to real financial reform
2. Stop consumer abuses and predatory lending practices that hurt communities
3. Provide bank workers access to affordable healthcare
4. Stop lobbying against pro-worker legislation like the Employee Free Choice Act to ensure bank workers have a voice on the job to protect consumers.

But for today, take a moment to watch this video about your efforts and what we've accomplished in the last several days. Click here to watch and tell your friends:

http://action.seiu.org/page/invite/hugenewsbofa

Thanks for all you've done to reform Bank of America. Our work is just beginning. We're glad to have you on board.

SEIU's Stephen Lerner appears on CNBC to discuss Take Back The Economy and why Bank of America's CEO, Ken Lewis, needs to go.

Taxpayers didn't cause this economic crisis, but we sure are paying the price.

Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis leads the way in the predatory, self-serving culture that gets executives rich at the expense of everyone else.

In just two weeks, Bank of America's shareholders will meet to decide CEO Ken Lewis' future at the company. Our government - and by extension, taxpayers - are the single biggest shareholder of Bank of America's stock.

This is our chance to send a message that it's time for Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis to go.

We're asking you to sign a "taxpayer's proxy card" to show your support for firing Lewis and reforming Bank of America - and we'll deliver it directly to Bank of America.

Click here to watch our shocking new video about why we need to fire Ken Lewis, and sign your name to a "taxpayer's proxy card."

(This video is narrated by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich)

We are demanding these four things:

• Fire CEO Ken Lewis, who has helped destroy the bank and our overall economy
  
• Stop consumer abuses that hurt our communities, like skyrocketing fees and predatory lending
  
• Support bank workers' voice on the job to protect consumers and improve living conditions and wages by supporting the Employee Free Choice Act
  
• Provide affordable quality health care to employees so they do not have to rely on taxpayer-funded public health programs

Banks like Bank of America built a business model on screwing customers, pushing dangerous products, and burying customers in more and more debt. It would be bad enough if Ken Lewis' Bank of America just screwed its customers and taxpayers. But that's not all - the company also screws its workers.

Just days after receiving its first $25 billion bailout, Bank of America was caught hosting a conference call to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act - legislation that would help all working people, including Bank of America employees.

Enough. We need real reform, and it's clear Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis is part of the problem, not the solution. It's time for taxpayers to tell Ken Lewis to go.

We need you to take the next step right now. Watch our shocking new video and sign your "taxpayer proxy card" to vote out Ken Lewis.

We'll be in touch over the next several weeks about how we'll escalate our campaign to fire Ken Lewis. It's the kind of change our country and our economy so desperately need.

P.S. Mark your calendars - save the date on April 28th for a big action related to our campaign.

Last night, SEIU's Stephen Lerner was on MSNBC's Hardball and had a really great exchange that explains our case for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Lerner delves into the hypocrisy of business groups' new "campaign" of allegedly standing up for workers' rights:

"The Chamber of Commerce...who opposed raising the minimum wage, who opposed health insurance for kids, who opposed almost everything that would help workers--is now saying their interest is to protect the rights of workers. It's silly. They like the status quo...for 30 years wages remained stagnant, while productivity went up, wages went down. The middle class was destroyed. They got million dollar bonuses; they did great. We're just trying to level the playing field."

No one said this fight would be easy, but it's nothing compared to what workers face every day in the battle to bargain collectively with their employers for better wages and health care. Today, 51% of employers illegally threaten to close down a worksite when workers try to join together to form a union. Thirty percent unlawfully fire workers who support forming a union. And workers who ask for a union election don't get a chance to vote in 4 out of 10 cases. As Chris Matthews acknowledges in the clip below, "It's hard to form a union."

How does the Employee Free Choice Act solve this problem?

And here is what Stephen Lerner said in response to Chris Matthews' question about President Obama's support for the legislation:

If you support the Employee Free Choice Act, please contact your Members of Congress and ask them to do the same.