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The 3 remaining presidential candidates are all afraid to talk about Social Security and Medicare going broke. It's cute for people running for office to talk about how they'll make government efficient and lower taxes. But unless you address head on what's eating up the federal budget, you're not being serious about what you're doing to help the country.

People who are under age 35 shouldn't be faulted if they have more faith in the Tooth Fairy than Social Security supplementing their retirement. But the bigger issue is Medicare, which is now projected to end up in the red by 2019. Social Security, meanwhile, is expected to go in the red around 2041. Why should young people care about something that will happen 33 years from now? Simply put, the feds are going to tax you and employer very heavily to pay for older folk's Social Security and Medicare. If you're younger, you're getting ripped off completely because the money you're paying in won't be available to you.

Younger people have got to save for retirement because they won't have a check coming from Uncle Sam every month during their golden years. Somebody needs the courage to face up to American citizens and tell them what they don't want to hear -- that we don't have money to do all this. Clark feels younger people should be allowed to opt out of Social Security and opt in to a mandatory retirement savings withdrawal. What we can't do is allow people to opt out of Social Security and not save for the future.

Why is it so hard for McCain, Clinton and Obama to own up to the facts as they are and get a plan together? Politicians only tell us only what we want to hear. Maybe most Americans aren't willing to hear the real story. What do you think?

The second principle of Clark's motto is to spend less. The penny-pinching guru's late father used to get upset with him and say he was too tight or too cheap with his money; his thrifty ways drove his dad crazy! Wonder what he'd say to Clark today?!

The reality is that people may be hardwired to handle money a certain way. The action of spending money evokes pleasure in some people and pain in others. This is corroborated by studies done by The University of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon that were recently published in The Journal of Consumer Research. Clark's executive producer Christa recently had an "a ha" moment when reading the studies. She receives pleasure from spending money and is now trying to modify her behavior. Interestingly, Clark feels pain when Christa spends her money because he cares about her and her family. Now Christa wants to re-wired to be more like Clark!

The trick is to understand yourself and then adjust your habits if necessary. Clark admits to having a tendency to unnecessarily deprive himself just to save a buck. So he's had to consciously overcome his aversion to spending and get used to prying open his wallet. Christa, meanwhile, is doing things differently too. She's paying with cash these days so that her budget seems more real to her.

All of this goes to the heart of behavioral economics, a once-maligned field that takes into account human behavior when analyzing one's finances. There's no one right prescription for everybody. You've got to think about your own situation and grade yourself. Then try to adopt some of the other side's behavior.

CLARKONOMICS: Clark is not a man who's afraid of the condo market. He knows the value of a condo typically fluctuates like an EKG -- up and down in rapid cycles. Single-family homes, by contrast, tend to rise slowly but steadily over time, barring a bubble market. The problem is that people usually buy condos the wrong way. They own them for short periods of time and then can't get the value they paid when they resell.

Because of general market malaise, lenders are increasingly getting spooked about making loans for condos. New rules and requirements are being established that reflect the fear. It's getting tougher to refinance a condo loan or get one in the first place. Some lenders have even begun redlining -- that's where they take whole zip codes and refuse to make loans in them regardless of credit score.

Other lenders won't make loans in condo communities where there are more than 25% rentals. Some owners have become unwitting landlords so they can meet their monthly payments. Yet if a condo association allows a high percent of rentals, the condo community won't be exempt from future financing.

Compounding the problem are new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines. Lenders are being required to make a decision about whether or not a condo association has solid books before making a loan. The practice hurts lenders who may want to sell out their loans out of portfolio, and Clark says it will have a further chilling effect on condo lending.

The pendulum swung too far with irresponsible lending; now it's swinging too far the other way. It all creates a hardship for those condo owners who want to sell. The good news is that there's great opportunity right now to buy a condo for cash or if you're able to get a loan. Condos go through phases of incredible pessimism followed by ill advised optimism. Right now we're in a pessimistic cycle, so look for the deals and pounce. Do you smell what Clark is cooking?

The summer is a big time for people moving. Many opt to rent a truck instead of hiring professionals to do the job. There's one company that Clark suggests you avoid if you intend to rent a truck. U-Haul has long had problems with putting allegedly unsafe vehicles on the road. Clark recently saw a Bloomberg report about a man who won an $84 million judgment when his U-Haul ran him over! The jury assessed $21 million in damages and $63 million in punitive damages. U-Haul, of course, feels the damages are excessive and plans to appeal.

Clark thinks this was a case of a jury being furious about company that seems doesn't seem to learn from past mistakes. Go to Google and type in "U-Haul problems" to see for yourself. U-Haul vehicles tend to be old and not properly maintained. The reality is that the company needs to look in the mirror and make some changes, not point fingers at a jury verdict as unfair. Clark invites any U-Haul representative to come on the air and tell him why his view is flawed.