WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, government officials said.

The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving federal bailout money. Officials say the rules could also be applied more broadly to publicly traded companies, which already report about some executive pay practices to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

During the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama repeatedly urged regulators to adopt new rules to give shareholders a greater voice in setting executive pay for all public companies.

This should scare the heck out of every business owner and investor. The government wants to tell companies the minimum they can pay, and now the maximum they can pay! I believe its part 3 of a 4 part conspiracy:

1) Government can determine a minimum wage for workers. This has been in effect for years. Phase 1 complete.

2) This is the real conspiracy. Obama and his frat buddy Geithner knew all along these huge AIG bonuses would be going out (that is a fact, not the conspiracy). The conspiracy is that they wanted it to happen in order to fuel the most beloved of all liberal strategies... class envy. Just listen to the feigned outrage in NObama's voice as he is shocked and outraged that some people get huge bonuses. Of course the brainless masses get their pitchforks and torches and line up right behind him.

3) Now, to make the illusion of caring come full circle, congress knee-jerks a bill through that taxes this group of individuals at a 90% tax rate, even though its unconstitutional! Add to the the fact that Obama wants to set limits on executive pay at large companies all in the name of fairness. Publicly traded companies that have NO affiliation or financial obligation to the government (other than taxes) may have limits imposed on what they can pay.

4) If this latest round of Koolaid is consumed by the masses, the government will have a lock on the minimum and maximum that employers can pay. The next step is to now narrow that gap. Its the full circle of Obama's campaign promise to redistribute the wealth.

A full time minimum wager earns about $16,640. Lets say the government sets the upper limit to $400k. Now, in the name of fairness, it can be adjusted so that annual minimum wage is more like $35k and the upper will be shrunk to $300k. Then, since there are far more lower end underachievers than upper end payers, they will have no problem shrinking it even more... say $55k to $200K.

Let me point out one thing about how completely out of touch this administration is when it comes to free market tendencies: "adopt new rules to give shareholders a greater voice in setting executive pay for all public companies"... You don't need government rules, dummy! Shareholders voice their outrage by NOT INVESTING IN THAT COMPANY! If they decide to give bloated bonuses that cuts profit and dividends, investors walk... stock goes down, company loses money.

I keep reading on other boards that people want to give Obama a year and then lets rate how he is doing as President. To be honest, I don't think we can wait a year!