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Whenever the economy hiccups, it seems like there are more and more scams being pushed on people. Has someone recently tried to offer "the business opportunity of a lifetime" to you? The Arizona Republic reports that the Better Business Bureau and Federal Trade Commission are getting increased complaints about these bogus business opportunities. Last year the FTC even initiated a program called Project FAL$E HOPE$ to help protect unwitting investors from such scams. The pitches that people are getting are very convincing. They're often delivered in hotel ballrooms, but also can come by word of mouth from someone you know. What these kinds of scammers are offering is great wealth -- if you buy their secret system or investment strategy.

Clark wants to warn people that there is no "insta-business." We all want to earn extra income, so the subconscious desire to believe these pitches is tremendous. The pitches can get so intense that Clark describes them as part church revival, part pep rally and all baloney. If you do get pitched, do some third-party research by talking to the BBB, or going to eBay and seeing if others are doing a protest sale. You'll know it's a protest sale if someone is offering a product or strategy that could cost you thousands of dollars for some ridiculously low price like $1.99. Chances are this person already paid money and got burned, so now they want to warn others. You can always buy what they're selling for a couple of bucks and investigate its legitimacy rather than paying full price to a scam artist.

Clark's wife loves drinking coffee and often makes her java at home. She uses an electronic barista that has pre-packaged coffee blends to deliver ultra-fancy, boutique-style drinks. The packets cost 25 cents each, which is about five times more expensive than it costs to make a no-frills cup of joe. So how does Clark feel about this added expense? He loves it! It's not hard to see why when you consider that the alternative is to pay upwards of three dollars a cup at a Starbucks.

The Financial Times reports that people are now making more cups of coffee at home rather than buying them out at coffeehouses and restaurants. Starbucks wants a piece of this market, and the chain plans to offer its blends at your grocery store so you can brew it yourself at home. If you're like Clark's wife and brew yours up on a fancy machine, you can take solace in the fact that the return on investment is incredible. Though it may cost a few hundred to buy the machine, you'll quickly earn that back when you cut expensive coffee runs out of your budget for a few months. Or you can just go for the less-expensive Dunkin' Donuts coffee, which Clark's executive producer Christa says is the best in the world!

Best Buy and Circuit City have come up with a new way to rip off customers buying computers -- and it has nothing to do with extended warranties. According to PC World, these retailers are now trying to get customers to pay for Windows recovery discs. The backup discs are rarely needed, but the retailers have found a way to boost profits by tapping into the "what if" fear of consumers who may not know a lot about computers. It turns out that you can make these discs yourself or buy them from the manufacturer for half of what the stores charge you.

PC World got so fired up over the whole issue that they sent in secret shoppers to get the real scoop. The shoppers found that Circuit City pushed them hard to pay an extra $30 for the store-made recovery discs. But at Best Buy, three out of five stores outright told the shoppers that it's not possible to make the backup discs yourself. Meanwhile, several of the top computer manufacturers say that their notebook models come with instructions and software for creating the recovery discs. Best Buy tried to explain its way out of the situation by telling PC World that it was all just a miscommunication between the secret shoppers and the sales associates. But you have to understand that electronics retailers have really had their profit margins crushed, so they're desperate to push extra stuff on unwitting consumers. One last word on extended warranties on computers: Don't get them! Computers develop so quickly that there's no sense in insuring what may be obsolete in a year or two. When you're shopping for a laptop, just make sure you get one that has at least one gig of RAM for the memory. Clark also recommends Firefox for web browsing, rather than IE.

Imagine going out to eat and not getting a bill, but instead being told to pay whatever you think the meal was worth. Clark says he'd personally feel uncomfortable, but a handful of eateries across the nation have this type of business model. There's one in Salt Lake City that opened in 2003 and has been profitable since 2005. The Wall Street Journal reports that customers leave an average of $10 a meal as compensation. But they're also free to leave just a couple of bucks or nothing at all! Similar establishments exist in the mountain states and Washington State too. One restaurant started out with a traditional business model and then switched over to the honor system. But the business had to change back because customers were so uncomfortable not knowing how much to pay. Paying on the honor system is also used in some transit systems abroad. But it's probably more viable in the restaurants. After all, someone may love a meal and pay a large amount that covers a few patrons who underpaid. But who's going to pay more than the suggested fare to ride a bus or train?