I have to leap in, responding to the comment thread about empty cities.
To the commenter who speculated that CEOs’ jobs should be the ones automated, you’ve got to love this Time magazine piece looking at scientific experiments that find that — guess what? — the people who are likely to be rated as competent sometimes aren’t at all. What they are is talkers. A tidbit:
“Dominant individuals behaved in ways that made them appear competent,” the researchers write, “above and beyond their actual competence.” Troublingly, group members seemed only too willing to follow these underqualified bosses. An overwhelming 94% of the time, the teams used the first answer anyone shouted out — often giving only perfunctory consideration to others that were offered.
And yes, Ken Lewis is eligible for the $500,000 salary cap, say our banking experts. Most of the cap applies to companies that take bailout money going forward, but B of A is in a special category, they say.