If you've ever thought that nationalizing a business is a good idea, here's the argument against it.

Just watch the congressional palaver regarding executive bonuses at the insurance giant, AIG. Most of it is massively insincere posing, just public play-acting. These same legislators had the same information as the Bush administration and the Obama administration, but they work quickly to find fault elsewhere (yes, you Mr. Boehner, and you, Mr. Frank). "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves."

Just ask yourself this: would you really want to see these people have the authority to direct a large business? I'm not saying that the Joe Nacchios and Ken Lays of the world are necessarily better, but they can't be worse, can they?

CDs listened to today:

• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disks 6-9
• Paul Hindemith: Concertmusic for Piano, Brass, and Harps, disk 2
• Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope
• Forward Russia!: Give Me a Wall
• James MacMillan: Veni, Veni, Emmanuel