A few years ago when I first met Randy Alpert I asked him why this loudness war was happening and why don't engineers flat out refuse to do it. He told me if someone did refuse to compress the hell out of it the record company would just find someone else to do it. If you want the work you have to play by the corporate rules these days.
Way too true. One mastering engineer told the story of an album he had mastered, only to find out that the label didn't like it. It wasn't loud enough. He told his assistant to "smash it", and then told the record company to leave his name off the credits for mastering.
How times have changed...