CUNA.org - See if you're eligible to join a credit union
HSH.com - Run a new amortization schedule on your mortgage
FareCompare.com - Search for cheap airline tickets
eHealthInsurance.com - Comparison shop for health insurance online
Edmunds.com - Find out the value of a used car

It's often been said that there are no free lunches. But Clark thinks that credit unions are darn pretty close. This wonderful option is available to most adults, but only about 1 in 3 actually is a member.

What is a credit union? It's like a bank that you own as a shareholder. There's a nominal fee to become a member and then it's like you go to the mezzanine with a ton of great products at your disposal!

For example, Clark's credit union offers car loans at 3.9% interest to those with good credit. Home equity loans are available at 3.95% for 5 years.

Credit unions may have rip-off charges for overdrafts and the like, but they're usually lower than elsewhere. When it comes to credit cards, most credit unions offer Visa and MasterCard with interest rates that are about 20% lower than the giant monster mega-banks.

The one thing you don't get with credit unions is convenience. They typically don't have as many branches as the giant monster mega-banks.

Yet more and more people are turning their backs on the banks. In fact, banks only control about 12% of our collective wealth. The bulk of it is with stock brokers, mutual fund companies, credit unions, etc. For example, Merrill Lynch offers a cash management account for the wealthy.

Not sure if you're eligible for a credit union? Visit CUNA.org to find out.

Have you been paying extra for supposed "green" products in the cleaning aisle at the supermarket? Consumer Reports has found that such labels don't really have any meaning.

In fact, the conversion of familiar, non-"green" products to allegedly eco-friendly ones has become known as "greenwashing." So beware the next time you see an old product that's been repackaged as an earth-friendly choice -- with a higher price tag.

Likewise, "natural" is just another marketing term, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. There's no government definition of the term. Some tests have even revealed that petroleum-based products are being called "natural." Sure, fossil fuels are "natural" because they came from dinosaurs, but isn't that a bit of a stretch?!

Several months ago, Clark first spoke about the Sirius/XM merger. Many people in rural areas love satellite radio, but Clark doesn't get it. Why would you pay money for something when there's a cheaper option?

The alternative is called HD Radio, and it's a free service that's only being used by about 1 million people. Think of HD Radio as a digital TV signal for your radio -- that's the quality of the broadcast.

Every station can get up to 3 channels of HD and then deliver multiple kinds of content. So a rock station, for example, may be able to expand its format to include classic rock and alternative rock with the extra channels.

All of this is free -- you just need the receiver that can be up to $150 installed. The sound you'll get is phenomenal -- equivalent to a CD.

So who cares about the satellite merger? You have better and cheaper choices out there. In the future, more car radios will allow you to listen to Internet radio. This development really promises to threaten terrestrial radio in a way satellite never did.

Clark had tomatoes as part of his last meal…and he's hoping it's not going to be his last meal! The salmonella scare has shaken a lot of people. It seems like food borne illnesses have become an epidemic in recent years. But Clark thinks it's not that there are necessarily more instances, it's just that there's better media coverage of them.

Business Week reports that the FDA is short of the necessary technology and manpower to do reliable inspections of food plants. In fact, they say it would take the FDA some 1,900 years to check every single food plant just once. Clark doesn't know about you, but he doesn't plan on being around that long!

Libertarians would say that the food industry should be self-regulated. But since it is not, Clark believes government should reasonably be expected to step into this role. It is sheer madness that we live in a wealthy developed nation and can't routinely ensure that our food supply is safe.

Some people say that we should just grow our own food on a household level. But that's not a practical solution for everyone. So we either need to set the challenge up to industry, or assess the industry a tax so that that FDA can hire more people and buy the right equipment to get the job done.

Clark knows people will take issue with him on this, but he wants to know that something his children or his mother eats is not going to harm them.