Change You Can Believe In, Pt. 5

So, we've all read the reports that talk about the Administration of Our Glorious Leader meddling in the affairs of private companies. Specifically, there is a move to regulate the compensation of the executives in companies that have either received TARP money or whose health directly effects the US economy. Scary, yes, but those who tell us that this is only the beginning are right wing kooks who just want to frighten us, right? Obama has no interest in MY company, right?

Not so fast. I was reading through a Request for Proposal on a project at Camp Pendleton. The project is to renovate existing Barracks for Marines, and was scheduled to be released a couple of months ago. But, the government decided that it would use American Recovery And Reinvestment Act (ARRA) money - otherwise know as "the Stimulus Package" - to fund the project. This lead not only to the delay, but to a couple of pages being added to the requirements. First, we have to turn in monthly paperwork detailing "A brief description of the jobs created and or retained" because of the project. No doubt where politicians can brag about how many jobs the stimulus package helped create.

Next came the shocker. The paragraph that followed spelled out that we must provide "Names and total compensation of each of the five most highly compensated officers of the Contractor for the calendar year in which the contract was awarded..". That's right, in order to get paid for the project, whoever gets the contract must disclose incomes of it's top 5 executives. And lest you think that the requirement is limited only to the General Contractor, who is no doubt a large corporation with golden parachutes, jets, and extravagant retreats in the Bahamas, the next paragraph details that we must provide the same for "First tier subcontract funded in whole or in part under the recovery act that is over 25K". So, the small plumber and painter must also disclose the incomes of their executives as well. Even if those executives often time wear a tool belt on the job. We are required to award 60% or more of our first tier subcontracts to minority, women-owned, disabled vet-owned, or other "Historically under utilized businesses". Your President and Congress is demanding to know the income of the Hispanic landscaper as well as Chase and GM.

What will they do with the info? Why does it matter? How did we get here? Who gets thrown out of office in your district next election?