Kenneth Feinberg, attorney with the law firm, Feinberg Rozen LLC which specializes in mediation and arbitration (http://www.feinbergrozen.com/), was appointed "pay czar" by President Obama in June to decide compensation packages for the highest-paid personnel at the seven companies that received U.S. government bailouts.

Mr. Feinberg apparently has "a team of 15 people" to review pay data submitted by major firms that needed extraordinary assistance, (including Citigroup Inc, Bank of America Corp, and American International Group Inc.). They reportedly are "using formulas and data analysis to determine executive compensation" rather than relying on pay caps.

There is no question about Mr. Feinberg’s credentials as an attorney and mediator: he was special master of the September 11th victims' fund, administered funds for victims of the Virginia Tech shootings and Vietnam-era Agent Orange poisonings. But, is this situation really comparable to any of those? Why is Mr. Feinberg operating as his own un-legislated Resolution Trust Corporation?

Who are the 15 wise men (and maybe women) who get special access to pay data that none of us taxpayers, customers or shareholders get to review during our assessments of the competence of those corporations, their board members or their compensation committee members?

Why is Mr. Feinberg the only person on the planet, apparently, with the wisdom to come up with data analysis and formulae to assess the appropriateness of executive compensation?

Why is his magic more powerful than the potions whipped up by the people at Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSRO)? Should Mr. Feinberg register himself and his team as an NRSRO?

What on earth ever happened to the promises of transparency and disclosure about executive compensation from our friends at Financial Stability DOT Gov?

Why is it that this compensation wizard gets to hit the speakers’ circuit and get paid to talk about his personal, isolated interpretation of compensation rights or wrongs at companies that required us poor citizens to dole out "extraordinary assistance."

Mr. Feinberg currently is scheduled to appear at about 8 public (and private) speaking events over the next couple of months. Frankly, I don’t want him to get one red cent privately from corporations or associations before he appears before the Congressional Oversight Panel (cop.senate.gov) and explains to me the magic of his "formulae" compared to the mystery of the mathematical models that were used by those same people to get us into this mess in the beginning.