subprime mortgages

Morgan Stanley wrote off $9.5 billion worth of subprime mortgages last quarter, so you might assume its executives would be in for a grilling at the annual shareholders meeting.

Nope. There was little or no outrage voiced. Michelle Leder of Footnoted.org discusses why that is.

My friend Dana, a former real estate investment banker who got out of investment banking comfortably before subprime mortgages hit the fan, has a personal inflation index.

It's pegged entirely to the price of filet mignon at the Palm Too, his favorite steak house on the East Side of Manhattan.

If the filet mignon is reasonable, all is right with the world. If it seems unduly expensive, Dana gets worried that inflation is spinning out of control.

So a couple of months ago he returned from a month in Paris to find that the price of pricey steak had jumped to $38, up from $36.