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Clark recently saw healthy Halloween treats in the candy aisle at a supermarket. Who really wants to be the Scrooge who ruins the holiday for kids by handing out nutritionally smart treats? Yet there was a recent article in the The Los Angeles Times about the growing healthy Halloween candy trend. Little pretzel packs, Teddy Grahams and even packets of carrots are among the items that some people now hand out. The idea is for kids to have fun without getting rotten teeth. Clark's 8-year-old daughter is usually not able to eat her Halloween candy because she's allergic to nuts. But she gets a Starburst from her mother for every piece she gives up. If you like to give out Halloween candy, make sure you buy a type you don't like -- that way you won't eat the excess! Bring leftovers to work if you can. Clark brings candy to his workplace that he buys after Halloween for 75 percent off! Clark's executive producer Christa thinks you can save leftover candy and use it next Halloween. But even Clark says that giving out stale candy is way too cheap for him! One caller suggested that leftover candy makes a great Christmas stocking stuffer -- and it won't be stale by then either!

What a year it's been for Boston! The Red Sox swept the World Series, the New England Patriots are the best team in pro football right now and Boston College's football team is doing very well. A Boston-area store called Jordan's Furniture ran a promotion back in late winter/early spring promising free furniture if the Sox won the World Series. Some 30,000 people took them up on their offer, and now they'll be receiving a rebate for their purchase price! Retailers can make these kinds of promises (and honor them) because they buy insurance from risk management firms. Some firms even specialize in sports promotions. Speaking of the World Series, Clark caught some of game four and he was floored by how much noise the Denver fans were making even as their team lost!

Renters are about to enjoy the benefits of more competition for their cable business. The FCC plans to announce that landlords can no longer rip-off tenants by dictating which TV/cable/Internet providers they can use. Landlords previously could receive huge kickbacks from little private cable companies by signing exclusive deals for their buildings. When it comes to cable service, we don't have a lot of choice in this arena to begin with thanks to monopolies. The FCC's upcoming move will afford renters a little more wiggle room. Very rarely has a landlord dictating who you can go with for cable been a positive thing. In one unusual case, Clark's executive producer Christa once lived in an apartment where the management company offered her cable service at below-market price. Right now there's no telling how soon renters will feel the benefit of the upcoming FCC decision. On a related note, renters already have the right to go the satellite route. Under the Satellite Home Viewers Act, you can get satellite if you have a clear shot of the southern sky.

Many people have been logging on to Black Friday websites to get the early word about retail deals well in advance of the Friday after Thanksgiving. Retailers have just barely been tolerating the existence of these sites. After all, they don't really want their competition to know about their pricing. Now Wal-Mart has had its lawyers send nasty cease-and-desist letters to several Black Friday websites. But this has only created more interest in people about these sites. Clark thinks some off-shore website will probably publish the Black Friday prices and there won't be anything Wal-Mart can do about it.

But are you as a consumer prepared to get up at 3 a.m. and wait in the dark before a store opens just to get a deal? Clark certainly won't be doing that. As an alternative, keep in mind that online retailers start offering their big deals on the Monday after Thanksgiving when people return to work. There's a temptation to think that everyone is shopping online these days. But the reality is that only about five percent of all purchases are made online. Most holiday shopping is still done in person because customers want to see and touch the merchandise. One thing that people don't mind buying online is electronics. Clark predicted in March or April that GPS units would be the big electronics item this Christmas. He was wrong; they're about the fifth most wanted item. But the price could be right this season. The Kansas City Star reports that GPS units were around $1,000 two years ago. Last Christmas they were an average of $433. This holiday season they'll probably be in the $100-$200 range. Clark has a GPS he loves that cost him around $160.