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The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index from the University of Michigan has been released. This quarterly survey has been around since 1994 and keeps tabs on the good, the bad and the ugly in multiple industries. The big news this year is that American automakers did very well. While the top automaker was foreign (Toyota's Lexus division), homegrown companies like Cadillac, Buick and Lincoln-Mercury all tied for second place. Meanwhile, Toyota's namesake division fell way behind on the tally. Clark thinks the Japanese automaker has been taking its eye off the ball lately. The Toyota business model is now geared toward growth and quantity, not quality. That accounts for why they've been issuing more recalls than ever. Fortunately for Toyota, there are some corporate initiatives in Japan to raise the quality of their namesake line of vehicles. In the computer industry, Apple is tops in customer satisfaction; Clark's wife has an Apple Macintosh that she loves. In the PC world, Hewlett Packard's HP line makes a beloved machine, yet HP's Compaq division has been voted the worst company in the industry. Meanwhile, Whirlpool continues its dominance in the appliances field, racking up its largest lead yet over the competition.

The airlines are behaving so badly these days. Continental is often thought of as delivering the best customer service, yet something might be going wrong judging from the slew of recent horror stories Clark's been hearing. First there was the tale of Continental's sewage-filled flight from Europe to New Jersey. Apparently there was a malfunctioning toilet that wasn't fixed before takeoff. It spilled raw sewage up and down the aisles all across the Atlantic. The company's response to that incident was lame at best.

Now there's been another Continental snafu that's caught Clark's attention. This one concerns a passenger revolt that took place on a grounded Continental flight, and it was first reported in The Baltimore Sun. About two weeks ago, a flight from Venezuela to Newark, N.J., was diverted to Baltimore because of bad weather. Once the plane touched ground, it sat on the tarmac for five to seven hours. Worse still, the passengers had no food, no water and no working toilets or toilet paper. So some travelers began rhythmically clapping their hands in protest while others beat out an accompaniment on the overhead bins. The unrest caused the pilot to radio the police, who put the passengers in a hallway with what some have called an "attack dog." Continental doesn't even deny the facts. The airline only says that the airport couldn't make proper arrangements. But the airport denies this version of the story. What this all points to is the need for a federal passenger bill of rights that guarantees food, water and working toilets during a delay, plus the provision that after a plane is delayed for three hours on the tarmac the passengers will be brought back to the terminal. So far only JetBlue has even come close with its own passenger bill of rights that promises to pay customers if there are any delays.

The stock market has been very unstable the last several weeks with huge gains one day and huge losses the next. The volatility has caused a lot of fear in investors. There was a recent study that found people who pay too much attention to the market make poor investment decisions. That's probably because the financial press and outlets like CNBC tend to hype stock news and get people worried. But if you're still years away from retirement, just diversify your investments to spread out the risk and don't worry about every little bump in the market. After all, even investors who rode out the Great Depression eventually got some nice returns. Clark doesn't plan to adjust his investing strategy just because of stock market volatility. He thinks CDs and 401(k) options are relatively safe choices. If, on the other hand, you need your money in the next few months or years, you have to make investments that are very safe. Clark's Investing Guide provides info on some great options.

The calls about ID theft that Clark gets on the show are disturbing. Not only is the crime appalling, but there's a lack of caring shown for the victims. They typically have their credit ruined, lose a job offer or get higher interest rates on a loan. But sometimes the damage reaches a whole new level. Today Clark had a chance to hear from a male college student named Bo who was jailed for four days because someone stole his identity and then stole a car.

This sad story begins when Bo noticed his wallet was either stolen or went missing about four to six weeks ago. He went ahead and cancelled his credit cards, got a new license and did everything else one might do in such a situation. Then about one week later, he was visiting at his father's home. While on the phone around 10 p.m., he saw the police sneaking up on him to arrest him for grand theft auto. From the get go, there were signs that the police had the wrong guy; while the arrest warrant had all of Bo's information correct -- name, height, weight, birth date, etc. -- it listed him as a black male even though he is white. The police arrested him anyway and Bo spent four days in jail. He wasn't allowed to post bail because grand theft auto is a serious felony charge. His parents had to hire a lawyer, who got the courts to look into the details and see that Bo wasn't the right guy. The case has since been dropped, but a record of his arrest remains and still has to be expunged. Worse yet, Bo's life was turned upside down for four days and he hasn't received any apologies from the police or courts. This just goes to show that nobody seems to care about the innocent people harmed through ID theft.