B.O.H.I.C.A. (UPDATED)

(UPDATE #1): Representative Alan Grayson (D-Florida) who wrote the Pay for Performance Bill was on Neil Cavuto's show two days ago. In this 8-minute clip, he is unable to even give a range of what pay or bonuses would be deeemed "excessive" seeming content that he did his civic duty by leaving it to the Treasury Department to sort out as it sees fit. While some may argue that companies receiving government funding should be subject to some compensation oversight may have a point, the vagueness in which these laws are written is a blank check for political chicanery and leverage. Afterall, even we can come up with a range of definitions for arbitrary.

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After quietly backing off continued efforts to back tax at 90% the AIG bonuses Congress is looking for other ways to demonstrate to the public that via massive extension of power, they are really on the public’s side.

The new legislation, the "Pay for Performance Act of 2009," would impose government controls on the pay of all employees -- not just top executives -- of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would, like the tax measure, be retroactive, changing the terms of compensation agreements already in place. And it would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies.

In addition, the bill gives Geithner the authority to decide what pay is "unreasonable" or "excessive." And it directs the Treasury Department to come up with a method to evaluate "the performance of the individual executive or employee to whom the payment relates."

This arrangement will be sure to attract the best and brightest: A two-time tax cheat will be determining pay rates. A job in the financial sector is sounding more and more like a civil servant job.

But continuing on the theme of never wasting a crisis, it wouldn’t be D.C. if there wasn’t some… a lot of politics involved:

Rep. Alan Grayson, the Florida Democrat who wrote the bill, told me its basic message is "you should not get rich off public money, and you should not get rich off of abject failure." Grayson expects the bill to pass the House, and as we talked, he framed the issue in a way to suggest that virtuous lawmakers will vote for it, while corrupt lawmakers will vote against it.

"This bill will show which Republicans are so much on the take from the financial services industry that they're willing to actually bless compensation that has no bearing on performance and is excessive and unreasonable," Grayson said. "We'll find out who are the people who understand that the public's money needs to be protected, and who are the people who simply want to suck up to their patrons on Wall Street."

Did you catch that? If you are not onboard with the most radical expansion of governmental power since the New Deal, then you are without virtue. If you are not down with the overarching plan of the One then you are somehow lacking moral fiber. Assent is patriotic.

And lastly:

After the AIG bonus tax bill was passed, some members of the House privately expressed regret for having supported it and were quietly relieved when the White House and Senate leadership sent it to an unceremonious death. But populist rage did not die with it, and now the House is preparing to do it all again.

Having been effectively told to stand down, the pitch fork-wielding nightriders are back.

Yep, we’re in good hands