Reports this week indicate that Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration's pay czar, has a darkly comic definition of "tough love." While Feinberg reduced overall cash compensation for the top earners at American International Group (AIG) by a healthy 63%, a closer look reveals that the insurance company's high-ranking employees are still pulling down the kind of eye-popping annual pay you might expect from a successful business.

If you were to calculate a headlines/efficacy ratio for government and corporate leaders, executive pay czar Kenneth Feinberg would have to rank pretty high on the "most press for least accomplished" list.

Now that Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) are out from the somewhat watchful eye of Mr. Feinberg, he has only American International Group (AIG), the car companies, and GMAC to meddle with at little benefit to anyone.

So what does he do to keep himself occupied? He chats on the phone with Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein about how that company can better align pay for its executives, even though he has no authority over -- or interest in -- that company's policies.

In an upcoming interview with Judy Woodruff on Bloomberg Television, executive pay czar Kenneth L. Feinberg complains that "The biggest disappointment, I think, is that under the statute my jurisdiction is so narrow, and so circumscribed, that I have no real direct mandatory power over other Wall Street or other national companies."

Which is, to be honest, terrifying.

Kenneth Feinberg of the U.S. Treasury Department is the point man who reviews salaries at firms which received bailout money.

His latest move was to cap the compensation at four financial firms: Citigroup Inc. (C), American International Group (AIG), General Motors Corp. (GRM) and GMAC (GMA). The pay structures affect 28 through 100 highest paid employees. Compensation is capped at $500,000.

During the past year, there's been no shortage of discussion about executive pay at American International Group (AIG) -- and the deluge continues. CEO Robert Benmosche reportedly threatened to walk last month over frustrations with the Obama administration's pay caps, but was persuaded to stay by the company's board.

Apparently, Benmosche's maneuver inspired five other AIG execs to issue similar threats, with the group warning last week that they might walk if pay czar Kenneth Feinberg gets too handsy with their compensation packages.

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.

While Timothy Geithner gets deservedly raked over the coals for handling the America International Group (AIG) "negotiations" with kid gloves, federal officials are pressuring executive pay czar Kenneth Feinberg to ease pay restrictions on the company for the year 2010.

The concern is that tight pay restrictions, while politically popular, might hurt AIG's ability to attract and retain competent people -- thereby putting the taxpayers' long-term investment in the company at even greater risk.

A few lucky executives at Citigroup (C) received base pay raises this year, but CEO Vikram Pandit isn't among them. The bank announced that it will compensate Pandit exactly $1 for his services, with no stock salary. Last year, the chief executive collected a modest salary (by Wall Street standards) of $958,333.

Meanwhile, Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach's base compensation was hiked from $400,000 to $500,000 effective Nov. 1. James Forese, co-head of global markets, enjoyed an even heftier pay raise -- his base salary jumped from $225,000 to $475,000.

Speaking at Bloomberg Washington Summit Friday, Steven Rattner, the former head of the government's auto task force, wasn't exactly in the mood for pulling punches.

Referring to his time overseeing the government involvement in the auto industry, he said that "They were some of the worst-run companies I've ever seen in my life," and said there was plenty of blame to go around, including unions and the companies' executives.

The federal pay czar is doing his job. He's cutting enormous paydays for executives of banks and other institutions that took TARP money. That's as it should be. Those banks performed terribly. Several would have simply vanished if the government hadn't bailed them out. Since capitalism is all about rewarding risk and merit, these executives don't deserve extraordinary payments.

But there is a concern that investors need to think about. It has to do with the human side of this equation. Consider this: if you're an executive who has a contract that states exactly how you get paid and you meet those standards, you would expect payment. That's why there are contracts. You and your department may have been one of the few groups that contributed to earnings, helping mitigate some of the losses other departments generated. While you may feel a twinge of "team" spirit and be glad that you've helped, you don't feel it deeply enough to believe your contract should be violated.

The five most senior General Motors (NYSE: GRM) executives, along with the 20 next highest-paid employees, are going to see their cash compensation fall $3.9 million (31%) on a year-over-year basis.

The decision was made by the "independent master" that was appointed to set pay and stock levels for those in charge of companies that have received a majority of the funding from the federal government. GM is not on its own, as top execs at GMAC (the company's financing arm) and Chrysler will see their compensation cut as well.

There are chills spreading across the executive suites in Corporate America. As seen with the latest from the U.S. pay czar, there will be 50% pay cuts -- on average -- for 175 executives of firms that received federal money.

Might this spread like a virus?

It's too soon to tell. However, there has been a refuge; that is, private equity. Right?