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Clark has two Chinese pugs, and both need special food. One of the dogs is also overweight and recently had to go on a diet. And he’s not the only one. The number of obese dogs is growing in direct proportion to the growing number of obese humans. In fact, more than one-third of all dogs are obese. So, what is the solution? The FDA has approved a new drug called Slentrol, which is specifically designed to help dogs lose weight. The drug can cause vomiting, diarrhea and lethargy, but it’ll probably sell like hotcakes. Come on, people! The real problem here is that we eat too much and don’t exercise enough, and the same is true of our dogs.

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In other health news, a British medical journal did a recent study of nutritional claims on certain foods. Very often, the journals and organizations that do the studies are almost always paid by the food industry. The same is true of pharmaceutical studies. Basically, the whole thing is a stacked deck to show how great a product is. So, be careful. If you read any kind of study claiming a product is great, track the source.

The Consumer Electronics Show is on and announcements are pouring in about all of the very small and very large electronics on the market today. There seems to be nothing in a size Medium these days. One of the most popular projects is to display television shows clearly on cell phones. Samsung says it’s come up with a solution, and Verizon made an announcement in the last 24 hours about its version. We’ll see if any of this happens. Smaller laptops are also coming our way. In fact, some of them will be able to fit in ay man’s pocket or a woman’s purse. A few popular ones are the OQO, which runs Windows Vista, and the SX-GEN. These cost about $1,500 and there will be bugs. But Clark is psyched about the news. He carries a 5-pound laptop on trips and it’s a huge hassle to him.

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In other retail news, Clark talked recently about rebate products and the huge number of people who never file the paperwork on them. He asked in his latest poll if people who bought rebate items filed their information. Among our listeners, about 47 percent of people bought something with a rebate. And, of those people, 80 percent claimed they’d already filed their information. That’s impressive!

California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has called for mandatory health insurance for all citizens of the state. Massachusetts passed a similar law last year and it’s moving forward. Both states are clearly trying to do something about the flawed health care system in this country. We’re headed toward socialism in health care with so much government involvement. Plus, nearly 50 million Americans have no health coverage at all. Small business owners have the hardest time getting health coverage. That’s because our health insurance system has traditionally been tied up in large, faceless corporations, not the entrepreneur. In many states, insurance companies are legally allowed to collect premiums from people for years, only to turn around and drop those people when they get sick. It’s a fact that more than half of all health care spending in the country comes from the government. Government should not run the health care system. We need a privately-run system in Clark’s opinion, and we need to make sure everyone is covered. There is so much room for reform in medical care. Not to mention the fact that we need a better health care system, if we are going to remain competitive with other countries.

Last fall, Clark was outraged by the story that the IRS was using private tax collectors to collect taxes. It’s an invasion of privacy and personal information, not the mention the fact that there is a lot of corruption in the program. One of the three collection agencies that the IRS hired has a staffer who was convicted of bribery on a prior case. In addition, Clark just learned that these programs cost more than they collect. This is dirty politics and Clark is completely against the program. So is the national taxpayer advocate, who said this program should be repealed. This is our private, personal financial information, so the IRS – and only the IRS - should be responsible for collecting taxes. This program will probably die, but in the meantime don’t entertain questions from collectors if you get a phone call.