What exactly is the pay czar accomplishing?

In an 8-K filed with the SEC, Bank of America (BAC) disclosed that it made changes to the compensation packages of two senior-level executives as a result of consultation with executive pay czar Kenneth Feinberg.

CFO Joe L. Price saw his pay cut from $800,000 last year to $500,000 for this year, retroactive to September 1st.

Price's salary was trimmed to $500,000, retroactive to Nov. 1. He earned a salary of $800,000 for 2008, according to a separate filing submitted in March. He'll also get $5.3 million in stock awards, which is actually an increase from what he received last year.

Mortgage unit president Barbara J. Desoer will get $500,000 in salary compared with $800,000 last year. She'll also get $3.95 million in stock awards. Both executives will be limited to just $25,000 in other compensation.

Am I the only one who thinks it's a complete waste of time that we have the White House volleying back and forth with Bank of America over whether the CFO should earn $800k or $500k? Other than generating some press and making the Obama administration look like it's willing to stand up to corporate America, cutting the salary of the CFO by $300k has absolutely no material impact on anything.

And it's not like there isn't work the Obama administration could do if it wants to improve governance at Bank of America. For one thing, It could boot out the chairman of the board who managed to go on a cruise but couldn't find time to find a replacement in a timely manner for the soon to be departing CEO.

It's time for Obama, Feinberg and company to stop making token efforts to look tough on Bank of America's messed up corporate culture and start making substantive efforts to shake things up.

Source:http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/11/30/what-exactly-is-the-pay-czar-accomplishing/