Obama admin. protects Wall Street bonus info

Wall Street salaries have become everybody's business lately, but the Obama administration's pay czar may try to keep under wraps a large portion of the compensation plans he is reviewing. Kenneth Feinberg has said he is uncertain how much information will be made public. Privacy laws and fears that highly compensated executives will become targets for populist anger argue for limiting such disclosure. Feinberg, speaking on Martha's Vineyard on August 16 in his only public remarks since becoming President Obama's point-man on executive pay, called the issue of disclosure "a serious problem." "There is a tension between not wanting to put on the front page of every newspaper in the country the specific compensation packages of these individuals ... versus the public's right to know," he said. Seven major companies still entangled in the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program -- including Citigroup Inc (C.N), American International Group Inc (AIG.N), Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and General Motors Co -- have submitted proposed compensation plans for their 25 highest-paid employees. Feinberg is reviewing the proposals.