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Several proposals about how to handle the mortgage meltdown are floating around on Capitol Hill. But politicians are not interested in helping people because they have big hearts. The talk of bailouts is to prop up the banks and lenders -- who are big political contributors -- yet it's being done under the good-natured guise of rescuing the borrowers. Does this sound cynical? Just follow the money and you'll see what Clark means. Remember that economics is often called "the dismal science." That's because the reality is that our country will suffer if we do exotic things to keep people in homes they can't afford. Look at Japan. The government over there decided to bail out the commercial speculative real estate industry and went into a recession for 2 decades as a result. Japan is still struggling 20 years later to come out of it. That example teaches us that there must be an actual business reason to do a bailout with someone.

Clark recently spoke to a man who was just days away from foreclosure and wanted advice. But he could not give the man false hope; some people have never even been able to make their initial teaser payments. The typical homeowner who is in over his or her spends between 45 and 55 percent of their pre-tax pay on their mortgage. Clark knows of woman who has a payment that's higher than her income. What is a bank doing making that kind of loan? Either the paperwork was forged or she didn't have to disclose her finances to get the loan. The mortgage broker, meanwhile, probably made a huge commission on that deal. These ugly abuses are the reasons why the feds should not save an industry that partied too hard during the good times and now wants a helping hand. The fact that it's being done under the guise of helping homeowners is tragic. It's really about helping cronies in the mortgage and banking worlds.

What you don't know about your credit report can hurt you. But what can really hurt you even more is when you report errors to the credit bureaus and they don't care to update them. Accuracy costs money; the bureaus are only too happy to sell somewhat accurate reports. More than 1 in 4 people have errors on their reports that can lead to higher interest rates, denial of a job and worse. A Florida woman recently sued Equifax because her file was married with someone else's who had bad credit. She repeatedly provided documentation to clear her name. Equifax refused to do anything about it and the company's negligence cost the woman $220,000. When the case went to trial, the jury awarded the woman $2.9 million! Equifax has vowed to appeal, according to The Orlando Sentinel.

Clark says that the laws governing the bureaus don't have enough teeth in them. People should not have to go to the mat and fight repeatedly to get their credit cleared. The problem is that these bureaus are not focused on you and me; they just want to deliver higher value to shareholders. So they won't be accurate unless they're required by law. The sad truth is that there is no way to force bureaus to be accurate -- short of the Florida woman's method. Clark hopes the bureaus get knocked around in the courts so much that their bottom line is damaged and they're forced to change their ways.

Have you heard that Congress has reached an accord with automakers and environmentalists to have a 50 percent increase in fuel economy over the next 12 years? It's not yet clear if such a bill will make it to the President's desk. But we've got to get our act together for long-term economic strength. Otherwise, our dependence on foreign oil will make us a 98-pound weakling in the international arena. It's difficult to picture exactly how increased fuel economy will look. With that in mind, Clark wants to tell you about the Suzuki Wagon R (pictured here), which has been the No. 1 selling car in Japan for nine months in a row. Clark first saw this vehicle during a staff trip to Japan. The closest thing Clark can compare the Wagon R to is the old Scion XB, but even that's larger than this toaster on wheels that gets 60 mpg with a traditional engine. Unfortunately, Suzuki has no plans to sell the vehicle over here.

People are also bonkers about buying the SmartCar when it arrives next year on our shores, but that only gets 42 mpg in comparison! Other ways we'll be seeing increased fuel economy at play include clean diesel vehicles, turbo boosters on engines, hybrid designs and more. There are also some things coming that you might not be able to imagine easily, such as SUVs that are not truck based. Manufacturers will simply take a regular car platform and slap on a different top. The result will be an SUV that's easier to drive and offers better fuel economy, among other benefits. Clark gets a kick out of seeing tiny women driving huge SUVs when he drops his daughter off at school. Some moms just won't be caught dead in a minivan, which is considered the height of un-cool!

We're living in a time when people are carrying record levels of debt, close to the trillion dollar mark. Per person that's like $1,500 or $1,600, while per household it's several thousand dollars. The Supreme Court ruled that credit card companies could set up shop in states like South Dakota and Delaware where there is no consumer protection. That's been like a free pass for them to do whatever they want. The big fuss right now is over people who pay on time every month and still get hit with giant increases in their interest rates. Clark is not in favor of having fixed rates set by a government cap. But he does think it's reasonable that if you sign up at a certain interest rate, the bank must honor that rate on all existing balances. They should be free to raise the rate on all future purchases, but not on those existing balances.

Clark likens the credit card companies to drug dealers. They want to get you hooked, so they hand out the cards like candy. If you pay down your balance, they'll lower the minimum payment to try to keep you hooked. So it's up to you to control yourself and not abuse that card. Don't charge balances you can't pay. Get yourself on a debt diet. If you have multiple cards, pay as much on the one with the highest rate as possible. Try making a payment every 14 days instead of every month. This works to your benefit because interest is calculated daily. If you keep paying what you've already been paying when they lower your minimum payment, you'll find that steadily more of your dollar will go to the principal instead of the interest. One final thought: This is not like ancient times when people were forcibly enslaved. Today we're making slaves of ourselves with our debt.