These days, it’s pretty easy to track people down via cell phone, but it can sometimes get them in trouble. So, what can you do if you planned to play golf when you’re supposed to be working? Two European entrepreneurs have started “Sound Alibis,” a company that produces background noises for cell phones. These sounds play while you’re talking on the phone, and you pick the one you want depending on what your alibi is. Some of them include traffic jam noises, roadwork, a parade, the drill in a dentist’s office, and you can even fake a call coming in that you have to answer. These work with Nokia products right now, but it will probably be available with others later. Also from Europe is a portable television that you can carry around in your pocket. It has a hard drive and it records 20 to 30 hours of TV that you can then play when you’re on vacation or traveling. Right now, they are pretty pricey at $300 to $400. But prices will go down as word spreads.
If you own your own business, you know how hard it is to get good, affordable health care. It’s a topic that underlies this year’s presidential election because people are concerned about affordable health care. Economists have proposed a new theory that the job market has remained so crummy because of the cost of health care. Companies that would normally hire people full-time are choosing to hire contractors and part-time workers because health care is so expensive. GM just announced that medical care for its retirees has just crossed the $60 billion mark. So, if it’s happening to the bigger companies, it’s hurting the small business owner even more. Families USA reports that people are also getting ripped off everywhere because they buy into phony health insurance plans that cost less. You may not know it, but Sam’s Club is now experimenting with group health insurance offerings for small businesses. They’re trying it in 10 states initially. They are: California, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin. So, companies with fewer than 100 workers will be able to try it out. If it works well, they will offer it in the other 40 states. The idea is people will have group buying power and will be able to participate in a PPO. And Clark is excited about this opportunity for you!
Annuities are selling like crazy these days. Statistics in Business Week show that Americans spent $126.4 billion last year on variable annuities. It’s a product Clark wants you to stay far away from these products. Insurance agents try to pitch annuities as “great retirement plans.” In actuality, you’re buying mutual funds that are wrapped inside an insurance plan. It offers you the opportunity to avoid paying tax until you use the money for retirement, which sounds good. In other words, it’s tax deferred. The catch is that these annuities have monstrous expenses. Your money gets eaten up. Tax laws have changed again recently, making it even more of a bad decision to own these things. According to the new laws, the maximum tax on annuities is 35 percent. On regular mutual funds, the maximum you can be charged is 15 percent. But people continue to invest in them. So, what do you do if you already own them? Don’t put any more money into them. And, if someone trying to sell annuities approaches you, run the other way. Annuity salespeople love to target people who own their own businesses and the self-employed, so watch out.
Most people have resisted buying HDTV because there are technical problems, programming problems and the product itself is very expensive. But there are two attempts to change all of that. The first involves the cable TV industry, which is pushing HDTV during the NCAA basketball tournament. They’ve worked out a deal with Samsung to offer discounts on HDTVs. And the company is going to run a lot of ads about how great the product is. In addition, Dish Network has a flat rate HDTV deal that costs $999. You can either get a big screen 40-inch monitor or a traditional 34-inch TV, along with the HDTV equipment and the antenna. They hook it all up and you’re done for under a grand. That’s great under today’s standards. So, if you can’t wait anymore, this could be your chance. There is still a lack of programming, so that’s a bummer. But prices are going down and they will keep going down. What if you didn’t need a TV at all to watch TV? Sounds strange, huh? Well, it’s happening. The picture just appears magically wherever you are in the house and you can watch TV wherever you choose. Clark saw a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about this technology, which costs $115,000. That’s a little pricey for Clark’s taste, but we’ll see how it does.
The major oil companies are engaging in more sneaky, sleazy dirty tactics to eat up your wallet, and this time it’s happening in Kansas. The oil companies are trying to get a law passed through the Kansas legislature that will make it a crime for discounters to sell you cheap gasoline. All across the country, Americans are taking advantage of tremendous discounts available on gasoline at warehouse clubs, supermarkets and other discount stores. Wal-Mart has become a huge gas retailer, too, sometimes selling under the name “Murphy Oil.” But it’s caused people to stop being loyal to the big gas companies. To its credit, the Federal Trade Commission issued a statement, saying the bill in Kansas will harm consumers. Price-fixing gasoline serves only to rip off the public, and soon the idea will spread to other states. That’s the scary part. We need to make a statement and buy gasoline from the cheapest source we can find. And we need to let our representatives know we don’t appreciate their involvement in fixing prices. What else can you do? First of all, when you’re on the freeway, slow down. When you increase your speed, your fuel consumption rises dramatically. Don’t start and stop your car all the time. Also, it’s hard to believe, but rolling down the windows when you drive eats up more gas than running the air conditioning. The drag coefficient that occurs from the wind means your car has to work harder to get you where you’re going.
Clark talked earlier about a move in the Kansas legislature to outlaw cheap gas. The team tried to contact Sen. Les Donovan, the politician sponsoring the bill, but Donovan declined to go on the air at this time. His team added that he thought the media coverage so far has been “unfair.” Clark believes that if you are going to try to rip off the American public with laws like this, you have to take a little heat and publicity. Most laws pass without people ever knowing. But we have a chance to shed light on this law before it passed in darkness. Clark is glad the senator is feeling some of the feedback before it’s too late.
