Subprime mortgage predicament.

How serious is it? It might be less of a problem than previously believed. The media and some interest groups certainly have caused a major racket about it, so much in fact that the politicos nowadays are holding hearings in Washington to earn points for their careers.

A Federal Reserve Governor estimates that ARMs, the gist of the controversy, make up only about 8% of the entire home loan market. Relatively small number. Here's a bigger number. In some calculations the lenders could suffer $300 billion or more in losses. But, that's minor when we remember that the recent tech bust ate up around $9 trillion in corporate equity. So, is it more hype than anything else?