The reckless behavior of big Wall Street banks, credit card companies, and mortgage lenders caused a financial crisis that cost us millions of lost homes and jobs, billions in tax-payer funded bailouts and trillions in lost college and retirement savings.

This week, the Senate will take up financial reform legislation that will set the shape of economy for the next 50 years. This is a critical time to call or email your Senator and tell them American families can no longer afford a "boom and bail" economy and it's past time that they cracked down on the abuses that caused the financial crisis.

From March 1-4, you can call the Senate toll free at 1-866-544-7573 between the hours of 9 a.m.-5 p.m. EST. The toll-free number, provided by our friends at Service Employees International Union [3] (SEIU), will ask you to dial-in your zip code. You will automatically be connected to your Senators' office. Or you can go to BanksterUSA.org [4] to email your Senator.

The message? "Support financial reform that holds the big Wall Street banks accountable. Shrink the 'too big to fail' banks, close the loopholes to make sure that 100% of derivatives are traded on an open exchange, and create a strong, independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). Don't bury the CFPA in the basement of the U.S. Treasury Department [5]."

Now You Can Follow the Banksters on Facebook!

We're taking the fight for bank reform to Facebook and need your help to spread the word. If you're on Facebook, become a fan of the BanksterUSA page here. You'll get access to videos, news, polls and contests as we try to enlist more citizens in the reform movement. Social media is quickly becoming one of the best ways to organize online, and the only way we'll beat the Banksters and get financial reform is to organize, organize, organize! Click here [6] to join the page today!

We need to join forces. You know what we are up against. The financial services industry spent over $344 million on its lobbying in 2009. More than 1,500 lobbyists registered with Congress to work on the new rules to limit financial risks and impose stricter consumer protections.

But there are more of us than there are of them, so let's have some fun and flood the Senate with our demands that they crack down on the big banks and permanently put and end to "boom and bail."