Thursday Stories:

Stories I'm watching on this Thursday:

• Apple's Jobs takes medical leave. Who is Tim Cook?
• Bank of America please tell us this is some kind of "January fools" joke
• Why was Bernie Madoff wearing a bulletproof vest for his court appearance?
• The richest counties in America prove that government jobs pay much better than they would like you to believe
• NYC Mayor Bloomberg knows that tax cuts are the way to add jobs, not big government spending
• Oh, bankruptcy! Canada's biggest technology company files for reorganization
• Lehman Brothers assets include 12 jets, a sweet chopper and $30mln in art
• Countries with higher economic freedom tend to have higher national income
• FlowingData's top 5 visualizations of 2008'

By the way ... on the 10am ET show today we discuss the psychology behind what it takes to pull of massive crimes such as the one Madoff is accused of, and also if he poses a threat to himself now that he's facing the real possibility of life in prison.