Kenneth Feinberg recoils at the job title "pay czar"--a term I have been fond of. I'm not sure that people realize his job is NOT to render rulings on whether the bonuses and pay of the top 100 executives at big banks who took TARP funds are excessive. Rather, he sees his job as one that lays out better compensation policies that reflect the interests of the company and taxpayers.

You have to wonder if he'll be painted, with a good dose of populist angst, as ineffective once bonuses start ratcheting back up. We're already seeing that to some extent. Even at Bank of America, which has yet to pay back its $45 billion TARP funds, there's lot of chatter about massive bonuses being paid to retain to bankers. This is a tricky issue, just look at the AIG situation. It's in Feinberg's interest to take the focus off the sheer sums, which will be eye-catching, and focus on best practices, clawbacks, various deferral methods, proper alignment of incentives with shareholders and the like. 

For more:
- here's the New York Post article

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