Hmm.

Well. This seems incredible:

In mid September 2008 with the Dow Jones Industrial average still above ten thousand, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke were holding closed door briefings with congressional leaders, and privately warning them that a global financial meltdown could occur within a few days. One of those attending was Alabama Representative Spencer Bachus, then the ranking Republican member on the House Financial Services Committee and now its chairman.

While Congressman Bachus was publicly trying to keep the economy from cratering, he was privately betting that it would, buying option funds that would go up in value if the market went down. He would make a variety of trades and profited at a time when most Americans were losing their shirts.

I'm sorry, I should've skipped right ahead to the "incredible" part:

Bachus, who was the ranking member of the Financial Services committee at the time (since the Democrats held the house) made about 200 trades as the financial crisis peaked, netting about $28,000.

Wait, what - $28k? That's it? You had that much influence behind the scenes and were eager to cash in on maybe the greatest insider trading moment of all time, and you managed to get the salary of a Wal-Mart night manager? Really? Hmm. MAYbe this isn't the person I really want to be a member of any committee that has "Financial" in it's title, n'est-pas?