All Bow to the Pay Czar

Masters of the universe, prepare to meet your special master. The Wall Street Journal reports that Obama has decided to appoint a pay czar to regulate executive compensation at federally bailed out companies. The appointment of Kenneth Feinberg as the "special master for compensation" is expected to happen next week. The official announcement should coincide with the release of executive compensation guidelines for firms that have received TARP money. According to the Journal, Feinberg will help these companies to understand the rules of paying their executives, as well discipline those who screw up. In other words, he should act like a strict teacher or a police man. But, in order to make his job sound a lot more intimidating than those commonplace occupations, he shall be called a master, a special one at that. Or, for short, the pay czar (which does not have the same zing as the "car czar" but still sounds pretty cool.)

How do you become a czar when you grow up anyway? Feinberg made a name for himself as head of the government's compensation fund for 9/11 victims. He recently told the New York Times that the job was largely a thankless one. He certainly should not expect much appreciation from his TARP-fed underlings in this position either.