As the economy continues to sputter and new unemployment claims surge to an eight-month high, Fortune Magazine reports that profits of the 500 largest U.S. corporations have surged 81 percent. Fortune's editors write, "We've rarely seen such a stark gulf between the fortunes of the 500 and those of ordinary Americans." When Fortune is standing up for the workers, you know it's bad.

The Big Lie

As the United States splinters further into two worlds, the American people have not forgotten who got us into this mess in the first place. They are refusing to buy the big lie peddled by new Republican Governors, like Scott Walker in Wisconsin or John Kasich in Ohio, that greedy public sector workers are to blame for our economic woes. They know who inflated the housing bubble and played both sides with credit default swaps, and it wasn't teachers, firefighters or snowplow drivers.

They Can Run But They Can't Hide

Shareholders at major banks are hopping on planes and scurrying across the country for their annual shareholders meetings to avoid the big bank backlash. JP Morgan Chase is fleeing New York for the heartland. Wisconsin's M&I Bank is fleeing the heartland for Times Square. Let's tell them that they can run but they can't hide!

Join the Cheeseheads in New York May 17th!

Taxpayers bailed out M&I with $1.7 billion of TARP funds. Instead of repaying the money, M&I executives and employees gave $54,000 in political contributions to Governor Scott Walker. Plus, M&I is planning on paying its failed executives $71 million in bonuses this year when the bank is sold to the Canadian-owned Harris Bank.

Wisconsin State AFL-CIO is the latest in a wave of businesses, organizations, and individuals who are closing their accounts with M&I Bank. The federation closed out a $100,000 CD it held at M&I.

You are invited to join the Cheeseheads at noon in Times Square on May 17th, and you can find more information at M&I Bank Not Welcome [3].

Join the Buckeyes in Columbus as they Tell JPMorgan Chase to Stop the Foreclosures!

Ohioans will greet Jamie Dimon, "the most dangerous banker in the world," at JPMorgan Chase's annual shareholder's meeting in Columbus, Ohio, May 17th. After taking $25 billion in TARP bailout money and after acquiring Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, Jamie Dimon thinks that the big banks aren't big enough and neither is his bonus. In 2010, his total compensation topped $28 million. While Jamie is doing just fine, a new report shows [4] that one out of every ten homes in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus received a foreclosure filing since the start of the crisis.

You are invited to join the Buckeyes in Columbus on May 17th, and you can find more information at Showdown in America [5].

If you are interested in moving your money, you can find a new bank at "Wisconsin Moves Its Money [6]" on the BanksterUSA.org website.