What is the SEC for?

"While of great interest to CEO pay activists, for most investors, the pay ratio--which is based on an arbitrary calculation--simply is not material to their investment decisions. Yet investors will be forced to bear the significant cost of calculating the information."

An interesting article by Hester Peirce about how the SEC is stepping away from there mission. I think Mason's public choice economics can show a lot about how rules like this can exist in an agency that is intended to benefit the general public.