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Clark is back fresh from a European family vacation that coincided with his middle child's spring break. The penny-pinching guru used frequent flyer miles and had to comb over a map of Europe and check ticket availability -- day by day and city by city -- in order to travel for free. They would up going to Venice, Italy, among other places. Clark never realized how much an 8 year old would love the picturesque canals and boats of Venice. He even sprung for that old tourist rip-off: A gondola ride for 70 Euros, which is equal to $110 U.S. dollars. Clark nearly fell in the canal when he heard that price!

The weakness of the U.S. dollar was a recurring theme throughout the trip. But there are ways to beat the slump. For example, Clark used Priceline to book the beautiful Venice Hilton for about $136/night. When you travel outside of the United States, you really have the chance to see how poorly our economy has been mismanaged. The dollar is like a Third World currency. In Switzerland, Clark and his family stopped at a McDonald's restaurant, where a Happy Meal, a combo meal and a burger and drink for his wife was $29.70! Meanwhile, there was not a bad meal to be had in Italy. Clark was even floored by the affordable and delicious food on a train between Italy and Switzerland.

Switzerland was soooo cold, and the snowflakes were the size of ping-pong balls. Clark loved visiting Lucerne, which had been the site of a massive street party when he and his staff went there a few years ago. It was difficult to explain the incredible history of the place to his child, who just wanted to catch snowflakes on her tongue! By the way, Clark got a hotel in Zurich for $85/night on Priceline. He and his family only ate out twice day instead of 3 time; they bought food at local markets for their third meal. That's another way to overcome the weak U.S. dollar when you travel abroad.

Many people listen to music using Internet radio. Pandora is probably one of the easiest to use and it's customizable, which allows you to build your own radio station online. Right now there's a big fuss about the XM/Sirius satellite radio merger. But Clark says, "Who cares?" After all, you have to pay about $12/month for satellite radio! He understands why long-distance truck drivers and other motorists in rural areas would want satellite radio. But when Clark flies on an airline that offers satellite radio, he can't find anything that he likes! There's just trashy content like Howard Stern. Clark thinks the shock jock was more interesting when he had FCC limitations and you had to use your imagination with what he said. Now there are no limits and the content is just not as compelling.

Clark just loves that we have so much choice; that's why he's not upset about the possible monopoly merger in the satellite radio world. We have MP3 music players, Internet radio and HD Radio, to name a few of the choices. If you're not familiar with HD Radio, it allows you to get multiple channels of music on a given frequency for free in your local market. Meanwhile, Apple is looking at selling iPods that will cost more and come with unlimited music. This business model was first explored by Nokia. The bottom line is that the major record labels failed to set up their Berlin Wall around music. They created a marketplace where people simply steal what they want. As far as the Apple deal goes, all the big labels will likely be on board with their entire catalogs for the life of the iPod device. You'll also be able to download a certain number of songs and use them as you wish.

CLARKONOMICS: Think the economic news in the housing sector is abysmal? There just might be a money-making opportunity in it for you. By now you've probably heard that the average price of a house is down 11.5% over last year. Of course, some areas like Charlotte, N.C., actually saw an increase! But the majority of places are seeing values on the wane. Miami and Las Vegas are among the hardest-hit areas. Then there's the news about foreclosures. The rate that properties are being foreclosed upon is not keeping pace with the rate that buyers are snatching them up. There's more supply and less demand. So there may be opportunity here for investors. Banks are over-run with REO properties and the Dare To Be Great believers who got burned are out on the sidelines. The worst-case scenario is that you might buy now and prices could drop even more. But who cares if you're in it for the long haul? Remember Clark's rule of thumb: Buy 20% below fair market value for homes and 30% below fair market value for condos. Just be wary of buying investment property in areas like Michigan and parts of Ohio where economic growth is not happening because of declining population, decreasing job availability, high taxes or strong unions.

RIP-OFF ALERT: We have had money stolen from us by our elected officials in Washington, D.C. This is not a normal rip-off alert, but rather something Clark is outraged over. Last week, he told you that the Federal Reserve felt sorry for Bear Stearns -- a company where the average employee earns just under $300K annually -- and orchestrated a taxpayer-funded buyout of the company. Bear Stearns doesn't deal directly with the public, nor do they qualify for FDIC insurance. But they are influential in Washington. That's why Treasury Secretary Paulson took $30 billion of our dollars and engineered the JP Morgan takeover. We taxpayers took on the risk, but JP Morgan got the benefit.

The consequences of this kind of thinking are ugly. Under the guise of moral equivalency, Sen. Clinton has issued a proposal for a $30 billion bailout of those who can't pay their mortgages. What she's arguing is that if we save the bigwig capitalists, we have to save the commoners too. In order to do so, we'd have to borrow from the American people yet again by taking money they don't have. Right now we're already on the hook for $1 trillion. We're getting ripped left and right. Is there anyone who really represents our interests?

Paulson had the arrogance to say the Bear Stearns debacle was not a bailout because it was sold at $2 a share (since revised to $10 a share). Clark is appalled that in a free market economy we're getting decisions handed to us based on who has the power and influence. Politicians are lying with straight faces saying that none of this is a taxpayer-funded bailout. On both sides of the aisle, they're burying their heads in the sand, or saying the move makes sense under the "Too Big To Fail" theory. But Clark thinks if Bear Stearns made bad bets with borrowed money they should end up with nothing.

It's not impossible that Sen. Clinton's proposal will gain some real traction in an election year. But consider this: Most Americans pay their mortgages. Why should we be taxed to help out somebody who's not paying theirs? In rare situations, some retirees have had houses stolen from them by con artist mortgage brokers. Clark can see the value in a bailout for that small segment of the population. But somebody who bought with no money down and isn't paying? Clark can't see that. But what can you expect will happen after we bailout people making $300K/year?