>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2302366/London-parking-most-expensive-in-the-world.html
>
>You could lease a pretty nice car for that kind of money ...

Was it Salman Rushdie with the story of a lady who "forgot her credit card" or had some other lame excuse, so she borrowed $5000 from a bank, leaving her Rolls as collateral while she went shopping and having fun on Manhattan for a week. Meanwhile her card "arrived" and she just came back to the bank, repaid the loan and some $130 or so of interest (very bad loan, yeh, so subprime), and when asked to explain, as the bankers established that she had several other ways to get cash, "why did you take this loan at all", she said "having my car parked, and even guarded, for mere $130 for a week on Manhattan, that's the real bargain".