Aside from Junior chucking his principles into the wind, I've been catching up on some light reading this weekend.

It's an interesting little piece sent to me that was done by the GAO on the bailout.

Some interesting highlights:

- The GAO identified 18 former and current members of the Federal Reserve's board affiliated
with banks and companies that received emergency loans from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis including General Electric, JP Morgan Chase, and Lehman Brothers. (Page 39)

• The affiliations of the Federal Reserve's board of directors with financial firms continue to pose "reputational risks" to the Federal Reserve System. (Page 32)

• The policy of the Federal Reserve to give members of the banking industry the power to both elect and serve on the Federal Reserve's board of directors creates "an appearance of a conflict of interest." (Page 32)

• Many of the Federal Reserve's board of directors own stock or work directly for banks that are supervised and regulated by the Federal Reserve. These board members oversee the Federal Reserve's operations including salary and personnel decisions. (Page 41)

• Under current regulations, Fed directors who are employed by the banking industry or own stock in financial institutions can participate in decisions involving how much interest to charge to financial institutions receiving Fed loans; and the approval or disapproval of Federal Reserve credit to healthy banks and banks in "hazardous" condition. (Pages 41-42)