Graco/Simplicity crib recall info -- Check the model numbers or call 1-888-593-9274 for more info
Clarkhoward.com -- A list of states that have credit-freeze laws
FTC.gov -- Visit the FTC's Identity Theft site
Prosper.com - Borrow money online from individuals
National Foundation for Credit Counseling -- Get advice on debt management

Clark and his wife recently took a trip to Montana with another couple. Why Montana? Because the tickets were on sale and it was a great airfare deal. Clark loves the beauty of our country's entire mountain state region. He and his wife got to do so many wonderful outdoor activities, including fly-fishing, hiking and horseback riding. The latter was done at the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch, which is owned by Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank. Clark and his wife also had a great time in Yellowstone Park, where they saw bighorn sheep, buffalo (aka bison), grizzly bears, coyote, prong-horn antelope, moose, whitetail deer and elk. In fact, Clark was just a scant 270 yards away from a grizzly at one point! He also enjoyed seeing one of Ted Turner's ranches, which had buffalo by the millions. The ranch's scenery reminded him of the film A River Runs Through It. Look for pictures from the trip on the site soon!

Of course Clark had to fly to get to Montana. So many people are upset at the airlines and their recent mistreatment of passengers -- including leaving them stranded on the tarmac without food, water or clean toilets. And talk about the delays! Clark was recently at Newark Airport waiting to flying to Atlanta and his flight had to taxi around for longer than the actual flight time. Congress is holding hearings on the over-scheduling problem, but the solution needs to economic. Why not charge airlines higher landing fees if they insist on creating runway gridlock by over-scheduling multiple flights for business travelers? Maybe that would encourage them to spread their flights out and reduce the crunch.

The recent GM strike highlights something important about healthcare benefits in our country. GM has historically been one of the most generous providers of healthcare to its employees. In fact, they've been so giving that employee and retiree healthcare has been something of an albatross around the company's neck. Now GM has worked out a deal to end the strike that's shocking: The company has agreed to put $35 billion into a union-run trust fund that will provide healthcare to retirees. By contrast, some small employers don't even provide healthcare and some entrepreneurs don't have it for themselves! On the other side is Wal-Mart, which is now offering better healthcare plans for its employees that start at about $100/year -- this from the company that's earned so much ire for its treatment of workers. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart has cut most of its generic drug prices down to $4. So when you go to the doctor, bring the Wal-Mart list of cheap prescriptions and ask your doctor if any discounted drugs would work for you before he or she writes the prescription. This will help you take control of your healthcare. Clark is a big believer in people taking control of this part of their lives. He doesn’t think that employers should offer healthcare to employees. He prefers that each individual or family should buy its own coverage. The future of healthcare in our country is going one of two ways: Either we'll have socialized medicine or people will have to provide it for themselves.

There's a new recall of children's cribs that parents need to know about. One million cribs sold under the Graco and Simplicity brands between 1998 and this past May pose a structural danger to babies. Following is a list of the affected cribs. There's more information available online or by calling 1-888-593-9274. The recalled Simplicity crib models include: Aspen 3 in 1, Aspen 4 in 1, Nursery in a Box, Crib N Changer Combo, Pooh 4 in 1, Chelsea and the following cribs with the Graco logo: Aspen 3 in 1, Ultra 3 in 1, Ultra 4 in 1, Ultra 5 in 1, Trio and Whitney. The model numbers are: 4600, 4605, 4705, 5000, 8000, 8324, 8800, 8740, 8910, 8994, 8050, 8750, 8760 and 8996.

Sometimes a recall is not what you think -- you may not just simply return the item and get your money back. In the instance of this recall, you'll be sent a kit to make repairs yourself to bring the product up to code. Clark says there needs to be laws in place to make sure our kids are safe. Libertarians will argue that the market will punish those who make unsafe products, but how do you replace a vulnerable child who is injured or killed because of a manufacturer's negligence?? The Chicago Tribune recently reported how the feds sometimes look the other way when it comes to recalls. One retailer that's handling recalls the right way is Target, which has recalled its Cool Toyz play-set. Target is offering a full refund for the roughly 200,000 play-sets out there with lead paint. But how many have been returned so far? The Washington Post reports only 766, even though the paint in the play-set has 15 times the lead allowed by law. Meanwhile, the recent Thomas the Train recall must have received more media attention because the return rate there is about 40 percent. The responsibility must not fall on just the government, the media, the retailers or the manufacturers; it's one that should be shared jointly with parents. The safety of your children is important and you must protect it.

There's good news for consumers who don't live in one of the nearly 40 states with credit-freeze laws on the books. TransUnion and Equifax have now agreed to allow non-victims of ID theft in such states to freeze their credit for a cost of $10 beginning Oct. 15. If that cost seems high to you, just think about how expensive it is to be a victim of ID theft. Of course, freezes already are free to those who've filed a police or FTC report about having their ID stolen. The benefit of a credit freeze is that even if a thief has your information they can't do anything with it. There's no word yet if Experian -- the third major credit bureau -- will follow the lead of TransUnion and Equifax and allows credit freezes in states where it's not already on the books. Experian just lost a lawsuit on appeal that concerned negligence in its credit reporting practices. The bureau has messed someone's credit up and had a false judgment against them. But it still wasn't corrected even when the person had documents to prove that Experian made an error. The three credit bureaus wield so much power. Their reports determine if we get credit, job offers and loans. They should be held accountable for accuracy, but unfortunately this is not yet the case.