The Center for Media and Democracy's own Wendell Potter, former head Corporate Communications for CIGNA, and now the Center for Media and Democracy's Senior Fellow on Health Care, is going to New Yor

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 (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 to email your Senator.

The steady stream of revelations regarding the role Goldman Sachs has played in the fleecing of Europe should reinvigorate efforts in Congress to rein in the reckless trading that could send the global economy into another tailspin.

To recap, Greece and a number of other European Union countries are dangerously in debt. EU rules say member countries cannot have budget deficits that exceed 3 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP). The Greek government recently revealed that its debt is closer to 12 percent of GDP. Other countries including Spain, Ireland, Italy and Portugal are also in trouble. Like our behemoth banks, these countries are “too big to fail.” A default by any one of them would put an end to talks of “green shoots” and could lead to a double dip recession.