Responding to the growing furor over the paychecks of executives at companies that received billions of dollars in the government’s financial rescue, the Obama administration will order the companies that received the most aid to deeply slash the compensation to their highest paid executives, an official involved in the decision said on Wednesday.Kenneth FeinbergAPKenneth R. Feinberg, the Treasury Department’s special appointee for executive compensation.Under the plan, which will be announced in the next few days by the Treasury Department, the seven companies that received the most assistance will have to cut the annual salaries of their 25 best-paid executives by an average of about 90 percent from last year. Their total compensation — including bonuses and retirement contributions — will drop, on average, by about 50 percent. The companies are Citigroup [C 4.42 -0.01 -0.23% ], Bank of America [BAC 16.51 -0.50 -2.94% ], American International Group [AIG 38.96 -1.47 -3.64% ], General Motors, Chrysler and the financing arms of the two automakers.At the financial products division of the insurance giant, A.I.G., the locus of problems that plagued the large insurer and forced its rescue with more than $180 billion in taxpayer assistance, no top executive will receive more than $200,000 in total compensation, a stunning decline from previous years in which the unit produced many wealthy executives and traders.

via U.S. Said to Order Deep Pay Cuts at Bailed-Out Companies – Politics and Government US News Story – CNBC.com.