SpiralFrog.com - Free music downloads
Pandora Radio - Listen to free music online
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CDARS.com - Enjoy full FDIC insurance on deposits up to $50 million
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The topic of stealing music on the Internet is a hot one right now. The Minnesota woman recently on trial for sharing music files using Kazaa wants to appeal the $222,000 verdict against her. A lot of us may have teenagers at home who steal music and we look the other way or have no idea what they're up to. But as a parent you've got to know. From an ethical standpoint, wouldn't you want to teach your child that it's not OK to steal music? The writer, the performer, the label and the publisher all deserve to get paid. Imagine if you went to work everyday and got a paycheck for zero at the end of the week because someone decided your efforts should be for free. From a legal standpoint, you're the one that the industry will come after should they choose to prosecute your child for stealing music. While the music labels will never be able to get everybody -- this is kind of like a speed limit in that it can only be enforced on a fraction of people -- why would you want to play with those odds? It can be very expensive if you are caught.

Fortunately you don't have to outright ban your children from getting free music online. There are several free and legal alternatives. SpiralFrog.com allows you to watch ads and get free downloads from major label artists. Pandora.com, meanwhile, uses artificial intelligence to serve up music that fits your tastes. So if you find illegal downloading software and websites on your computer, talk to your teen and remove them as soon as possible.

Clark has to go to the doctor for a second opinion on a medical condition. When he made the appointment, he was told he'd have to bring a copy of his test results from his other doctor or have them faxed. Isn't it bonkers that in 2007 were still passing medical records around like it's the 19th century? We waste so much labor and time in the United States with how we process medical information. Clark previously talked about Revolution Health, a company that's been trying to update the process. Now Microsoft is spending a lot of money to bring medical record handling into the 21st century. Why is it that with all of our modern equipment we're still doing things by hand? There's no reason why Clark can't have a test and leave the doctor's office with an e-version of his results or password-protected results. The problem is that there's no financial incentive for doctors to modernize the way they process medical records. The insurance companies don't give them extra money for having e-files for all their patients. So Microsoft is also trying to come up with a system that would save doctors money. We'll keep you updated on their progress.

Clark's reputation for being cheap is so intense that sometimes people come up to him and ask him if he's found any good Chinese toys (with lead paint) for his kids lately. While the intention is humorous, the point is no laughing matter. Right now there's fear in the land because several government agencies have obviously failed in their duty to keep the American consumer safe. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has for a long time been perceived as an anti-consumer agency hijacked by people who wanted to protect industry giants making unsafe products from evil consumers. That belief was confirmed during recent Senate hearings when the CPSC's acting chairwoman basically said it is a bad idea to let consumers know about defects in items. Clark is also upset that the CPSC helped a crib-maker keep secret that their product was unsafe. Several children died as a direct result of the agency not recommending a recall.

Clark loves capitalism, but he knows that there need to be some referees in place for it to work optimally. When there's not a cop on the beat, the marketplace suffers because parents can't have confidence that the feds are on the case to make sure imported toys are safe. Another recent episode also shows the government's unwillingness to protect consumers. There was a recent scandal with unsafe ground beef, and it turns out that the Department of Agriculture knew about E.Coli contamination for nearly five weeks before issuing a recall. The DoA obviously felt its responsibility was to protect the processing plant, which later went bust when the government recall was finally issued.

Several recent bank failures have shown the hazards of having more than $100,000 in any one account. The FDIC insures regular deposits up to $100,000, and retirement accounts up to $250,000. Unfortunately for some, $109 million was uninsured when NetBank folded. Another failure in the Dayton, Ohio, area revealed that one in every six dollars at that bank was uninsured, according to a report in The San Francisco Chronicle. There may be more bank failures to come, so don't leave yourself exposed by having more than $90,000 (to be safe) in any one bank. Use CDARS.com (Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Service) if you have a huge amount of money you want to stash. With CDARS, you can put in up to 50 million and it will be spread around to multiple financial institutions so no one account exceeds the protection limit.

On a related note, the interest rates on CDs and savings are in turmoil. The advertised rate you see in magazines and newspaper may not exist anymore. For example, Emigrant Direct was paying 5.05% and now they're down to 4.75%. Credit unions are still paying good rates, and the mortgage lender banking arms have some of the best rates. Countrywide's banking arm is now paying 5.5% on a one-year CD, while their money market account is at 4.5%. So there are still some good deals out there, but some of the best have reduced their rates. Whatever you do, don't go to a mega-bank with their pathetic rates.