Starbucks has become the kind of American icon that elicits both very positive and very negative reactions. On the one hand, people hate the company because they homogenized the coffee shop experience. On the other hand, folks like Clark's sister love Starbucks and go to the same location everyday.

While Clark is not a coffee drinker, he likes Starbucks in theory because they have a reputation of treating employees better than most other fast-food chains. Yes, Starbucks is essentially a fast-food chain -- even if you don't think so!

The company's business plan has long focused on aggressive expansion. Sometimes they've opened multiple locations within close proximity in high-traffic areas. The goal has been to destroy weaker coffee shop chains and indie shops.

Unfortunately, the expansion proved a bit too extreme. Neighboring locations cannibalized each other's customers and saw a swift drop in sales when the economy contracted.

Now Starbucks is closing around 600 stores and laying off several hundred people. So much for treating their employees well!

Also factoring into the Starbucks squeeze is competition the chain is facing from McDonald's introduction of cheaper high-end coffees.

But Clark thinks the latest Starbucks news marks the end of an era. Previously, we as Americans didn't care about our guilty little pleasures. We just charged the plastic and didn't worry about how we'd pay for it down the road. Now we're worried.

Clark is so excited that the bottled water assault is in retreat. The master marketers at Coke and Pepsi did a phenomenal job of converting soda drinkers to overpriced bottled waters like Dasani, Aquafina and others.

But now Americans are buying less bottled water because of the economic squeeze. Meanwhile, the green movement has been educating people about how bottled water is actually harmful for the environment -- another factor in the sales decline.

Need we remind you that bottled water can cost 1,000 times what tap water costs? Committed bottled water drinkers can spend $1,400 in a year on the stuff. Wouldn't you rather put that $1,400 back in your wallet?

Some people who want to give bottled water the boot say they're not comfortable with the taste of tap water. The compromise is to filter your tap water at home. You can get a cheap external filtration system for around $10 or $15.

Traditional bottled water sales are getting it from another side too. Water drinkers are turning to flavored waters, which opens up a whole new field for the marketers. Clark was recently on a plane and everyone around him was ordering flavored water.

Clark is one of those people who hates going to the supermarket. He's especially bored by the idea of making a grocery list every week. That's where a new device available from Ikan.net can help.

The penny-pincher recently ran out of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! while fixing a bagel for his son at home. If he had the Ikan, he could have used it to scan the barcode on the package. It would then be stored on a list that could be printed out before he went to the supermarket.

But the Ikan is capable of more than just compiling a shopping list. The real payoff comes in the Ikan's ability to electronically send your list to participating supermarket chains in about 10 states. The grocer can then either pull your order and have it ready for you, or deliver it straight to your home.

Several years back, there was a company that Clark's wife loved called Web Van. This startup in the home grocery delivery business wound up blowing through billions of dollars and eventually failed. Peapod is a likeminded company that had some level of success in the market, and they've now partnered with Ikan.

Clark often talks about money-saving grocery strategies like those found at CouponMom.com. But another way to save money is to not go to the store and subject yourself to the lure of impulse purchases. That's where Ikan helps. You might just reduce your bill and your weekly calorie count too!

The Ikan normally sells for $399, but a portion of their stock is available for $99 for a limited time. (Editor's note: Pricing accurate as of 06/20/08.)

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.

Clark is a devout fast-food consumer. Years ago, he even earned the nickname "The Carryout Kid" from his brother. Today, the penny-pinching guru favors the value menus at the major chains. But right now McDonald's has a civil war on its hands with franchisees upset about the dollar menu.

The franchisees are trying to pressure corporate to change the name of the dollar menu to the "McValue Menu," similar to what Wendy's did. With costs increasing, franchisees are not able to make a profit when they sell an item for a dollar. So The Wall Street Journal reports that some have already raised the prices on select dollar items. For example, they're charging $1.09 or $1.29 for a double cheeseburger.

Clark saw someone order 2 double cheeseburgers (at $1 each) and a complimentary cup of water at McDonald's -- a sure sign of inflation. Franchisees lose money every time that happens.

The dollar as a magic price point is under assault. What will the dollar stores do? Chinese goods cost more because of international inflation. They could raise prices, but the "two-dollar store" doesn't have the same ring to it!

Meanwhile, beware of hidden price increases at the dollar stores. Clark was recently shopping for shaving cream and noticed they shrunk the size but charged the same price.

The city of New York requires chain restaurants to post calorie counts by every item on their menus. Recently, it was big news when 5 restaurants were cited for not following this protocol.

This is one issue that galvanizes people to no end.

On the one hand, Clark applauds restaurateurs for having the marketing savvy to spotlight healthy choices on their menu. But if someone orders fettucini alfredo, isn't it self-evident that the meal will be a heart attack on a plate, as some cardiologists might say?

Meanwhile, there's a disturbing connection between education level and weight issues. The less education you have, the heavier you'll tend to be. Yet if you go back to the Renaissance, the wealthy (and educated) were the ones who grew fat, as we can see from portraits of the period. The poor, meanwhile, had to deal with the possibility of starvation and famine.

Today, access to food is not an issue; it's the quality of what we eat that's become the concern. Go in to any convenience store in a lower-income area and you'll see a variety of unhealthy food choices available.

This, unfortunately, is not a problem that can be addressed by putting calorie counts on menus.

After years of Clark's prodding, Christa has finally made the switch from bottled water to tap water. What finally made her cross over from the dark side? She got hold of the Watersafe All-In-One Test Kit at Whole Foods.

For just about $20, she was able to test her family's tap water for bacteria, lead, pesticides, nitrates, nitrites, chlorine, pH and hardness. Well, the water passed with flying colors, and her brood has been drinking from the tap ever since.

Bottled water will run you about $1,400/year, not to mention that it's an environmental disaster because of all the plastic. That price alone is about 1,000 times what tap water costs! Meanwhile, 1 in 3 brands are just filtered municipal water, which is essentially glorified tap water. So why pay all the extra dough? Try a home-testing kit if you're still concerned about safety.

People are constantly looking for ways to stretch their money in the wake of rising food prices. During sweeps week on TV, one of the big stories was about ways to save on groceries. Clark’s already shared ideas about couponing, brand substitution and more at the supermarket.

But people who know how to cook can save even more. Recipe websites that teach you how to make easy meals from cheap ingredients are becoming increasingly popular. Suddenly, cheap is chic!

To Clark, “cooking” simply means putting something in the microwave and changing the temperature of it. The Los Angeles Times, however, reports many recipe blogs have seen their page views more than double in a year. These are the kinds of sites that were routinely being ignored during better economic times.

Christa has long used sites like Epicurious.com and Recipe.com. But now there’s a huge network of stay-at-home moms who share their money-saving ideas on the web. See below for Clark’s guide to the cheap food preparation blogs!

Just remember that even if you can’t figure out how to make a masterpiece worthy of Julia Child, simply making food at home costs a fraction of what it takes to eat out. For those who can't cook, you can always be like Clark and buy your favorite frozen meals on sale. He recently picked up a slew for $1 a piece. They’re not anymore unhealthy than his normal fast food fare, but instead of $4 he’s just spending $1/day.

Clark and his wife like to go out and have a nice dinner every so often. Last week, they went to an extremely expensive place that offered a 3-course meal for $29. Usually, it's around $80 per person!

High-end restaurateurs are finding they're having trouble getting customers. And those customers who do come in are really picking and choosing what they order. The Dallas Morning News reports one restaurant has seen a 30% decline in desserts.

Appetizers, desserts and alcohol are what Clark calls the Bermuda Triangle of your restaurant bill. That's where most of your money disappears. By comparison, the markup on the main course is usually much smaller than on those items.

Meanwhile, the only segment of the industry that's doing well right now is fast food. So it's no wonder the high-end restaurants are experimenting with the tried-and-true "value meal combo" approach.

The Howards enjoyed their 3-course "value meal" so much that they've already lined up a different deal at another restaurant for their daughter's upcoming birthday!

Organic food is something that's not relevant to Clark's life. His wife buys it for herself or the kids, but he's not into this particular food movement. Maybe that's because organic food prices are suffering from massive inflation -- even more so than non-organic grocery items. The New York Times found that while regular bread can be around $1.19, organic can be up to $3.19. Regular eggs may be $1.34-$1.50 versus $4.75-$6.39 for the organic version. Regular milk can be $1.99, while you may pay $3.99-$6.79 for organic milk.

So what can you do to dial back the price? Get your store's in-house brand of organic food instead of buying a brand name. Most retailers in the food business have private label organic food available. You can also try shopping at Wal-Mart. Clark knows the monster mega-retailer is anathema to a lot of green shoppers. But the reality is that they offer better deals on organic food than other places.

There's no doubt that organic food is gaining in popularity. Yet only 3% of food sales in the United States are organic. A whopping 97% of our food dollars still go to non-organic items. People can argue about the health value of organic vs. non-organic, but this is a dollars and cents issue. Right now the dollars you spend for organic make no sense!

If you've been to the supermarket lately, you've probably gotten serious sticker shock. Prices are up the most they've been in 17 years; for example, staples like milk and eggs are each up 25%. So what can you do to cope with the price increases? For starters, you may want to shop at Aldi. This hard discounter does very little advertising, has small stores and a limited selection with a lot of house brands. But it's very cheap. Estimates suggest you can reduce your usual grocery costs by 40% when shopping at Aldi.

Wal-Mart comes in at a close second. The Wall Street Journal finds that Wal-Mart can be up to 30% cheaper than the traditional major supermarket chains. But beware that a major customer satisfaction index recently gave it a horrible score when it comes to the shopping experience. More customer-friendly yet cheap retailers you may want to visit include Trader Joe's and Fresh & Easy. Finally, be sure to check out CouponMom.com for access to a variety of coupons. Remember, every dollar you save at the market is an after-tax dollar that stays in your pocket.

Were you frightened by your local newscast last month trumpeting warnings about trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in your drinking water? Clark believes these reports had more to do with sweeps week in the TV world than with an actual threat. Either way, the bottled water industry must have loved the news; they just got to sit back and pick up market share. But one recent study found that 40% of bottled water is just repackaged tap water. Plus, tap water is constantly tested to ensure safety. There is no equivalent for bottled water. Clark is more worried about al-Qaeda than killer tap water.

As a 17-year veteran of TV reporting, the penny-pinching guru knows that February, May and November are the months when ad rates are set based on how that month's news stories pop. So be careful with your TV during those 3 months. The news teams are trying to excite you, titillate you and make you fearful -- anything to raise ratings and drive up ad rates. Take it all with a grain of salt and wash it down with a glass of tap water. Think about it: How many people do you know who have suffered harm from tap water?

Clark has never had cup of coffee in his life -- a real shame considering how cheap it is to brew the stuff at home. But we Americans have defeated ourselves by turning coffee into a social occasion, thereby transforming what should be cheap into a multi-dollar purchase. In the futures market, coffee prices have been steadily on the rise. Yet at the supermarket, the java you buy a bag or container of is still cheap. But try buying that same coffee while you're out and about…you could blow between $1 and $5 on every cup. So the message is, yes, prices are steadily increasing. But don't get your jitters about the cost. Keep getting your jitters from the java -- just brew it at home and forget about the negligible rising price.

Clark's executive producer Christa recently gave up soft drinks for Lent. She had been drinking about 3 or 4 beverages a day. A recent Purdue University study found that soft drinks with saccharine actually make you gain weight, not lose it. Researchers believe the saccharine alters your appetite and makes you want to eat more. When the results of this study were released, everyone on Team Clark immediately thought about Clark and his love of soft drinks. Christa will go for 40 days without a soft drink. Can Clark go for 4 days without one? How about 4 hours?? Meanwhile, an older study suggested that diet sodas trick your brain and body in a bad way. While they're sweet to your palate, they don't offer any real sugar for the body to metabolize. There's a real disconnect between what your body expects and what it actually gets. That's why some people think drinking even one diet soda a day actually increases your chances of gaining weight.

There's been so much talk about Chinese exports like clothing and toys coming into our country. But did you also know that much of our food comes from mainland China? Now Trader Joe's -- the very eclectic, discount, new-age organic supermarket -- has banned food from mainland China because they're unsure about the sourcing. Trader Joe's has a great legacy of trust with its customers, so this move makes a lot of sense. In a press release, the usually media-shy company basically said that their customers have spoken and they've listened. The communist regime in China offers no system of checks and balances to assure us that their supply is safe. Clark is not jumping on the anti-free trade bandwagon here -- he's actually a fervent believer in free trade -- yet at same time he doesn't want to feed his dog food that may be poisonous. So Clark thinks Trader Joe's made the right move.

Fast food is a subject that's near and dear to Clark's heart. The fast food chains are discounting their menus because they're hurting for customers right now. Wendy's has come out with the Stack Attack double cheeseburger for 99 cents, while McDonald's and Burger King have their own $1 double cheeseburgers. The fast food index is a leading indicator of difficulty in the economy. So you'll see value menus start to grow as disposable income continues to shrink. Fast food restaurants need their so-called "heavy eaters" -- people who are super-loyal to a particular brand and dine out about 5 or more times a week. Many heavy eaters are younger men who are price sensitive. As a bit of trivia, do you know who started the value pricing trend in fast food? If you thought McDonald's, you're incorrect. They've marketed it so well that you would immediately think of them. But Taco Bell actually started it on a national basis with their 59 cent value menu.

In the weeks leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, reporters are asked to come up with new angles for coverage of the big game and the teams. So Clark has seen stories about Tom Brady transcending his sports celebrity to become a bona fide celebrity; and the NY Giants' Lawrence Tynes lobbying for a reduction in his brother's prison sentence. But here's a new one: Beer prices are skyrocketing just in time for the game!

This is not a conspiracy or a price gouge. It's because the cost of barley and hops are up, according to MSNBC. Keep in mind the raw materials that go into beer are a tiny fraction of what you pay on the street for the finished product. Much of the budget goes into distribution, packaging and advertising. But Clark has the best plan for coping with the rise in beer prices: He doesn't drink, so it won't cost him anything! As a season ticket holder for a pro football team, he has the cheapest seats in the house located in the upper deck end zone. Yet the other spectators around him blow it twice by drinking beer after beer (at 7.50 a pop) and getting so out of it that they can't focus on the game. The environment isn't exactly a family friendly one by the 3rd quarter, so Clark isn't able to take his 8 year old out to a game.

Meanwhile, the Super Bowl seems to be the most heavily gambled sporting event in the world every year. Longtime listeners know that gambling is something that Clark does not understand. Clark was recently in a convenience store where there were ultra-modern slot machines. He marveled as he watched the gamblers. Nobody smiled as they put in dollar after dollar and watched their money disappear. What a loss!

Do you want proof that marketing and ads work -- that our brains are hardwired to believe what's suggested to them? Scientists at Cal Tech recently hooked people up to MRIs to gauge brain activity while they tasted 5 different Cabernet wines of various prices. However, the subjects were only given 3 wines with double samples of 2 of them. The funny thing is that people insisted a $90 wine tasted better when they were told it cost $90 than when they were told it cost $10! Yet when they did a blind taste test, people preferred a $5 wine to the $90 one! We as individuals fool ourselves. You can't change the way your brain works, so all you can do is try to counteract it with the actions you take.

Speaking of wine and food, the day is coming when the way you checkout at the supermarket is going to change. Microsoft and Motorola have both announced tests in supermarkets of an electronic gizmo that will register what goes into your cart and automatically check you out. Microsoft is doing tests with the ShopRite chain, while Motorola has teamed up with the Stop & Shop chain for tests.

With the economy in a slump, some very visible symbols of the slowdown are starting to show. The fast food index, which measures how often people eat the greasy stuff, is actually a good indicator of what's going on economically. The same can be said of cable subscriptions. Clark recently read that techies are canceling cable TV because they watch so much Internet programming for free.

Now comes word that Starbucks is going through a midlife crisis and have brought back their founder as CEO. A handful of stores are even selling coffee for $1 and other locations are offering free refills. Starbucks created the premium market for coffee and now they're suffering from it. People can no longer justify spending $5 on a cup o' joe. Plus, practically every financial guru boasts about how much you can save in the long run by eliminating a latte a day from your budget. So will Starbucks take a cue from the fast-food giants and debut a StarBUCKS menu with several $1 selections? There's no telling. Right now these sales ploys are only being tested at select locations. If they do build traffic, you'll soon see them everywhere.

It used to be taken as an article of faith that the wealthy would continue spending even during lean times. But the mass affluent market is suffering too. So if you do go out to treat yourself to a meal or a shopping spree, there will be more opportunities (what's called "the value proposition" in industry lingo) for you.

Clark's executive producer Christa recently gave him an article from Health magazine that spoke about how plastic water bottles can leach Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical that's toxic in lab rats. So the inevitable question arises: Can it also harm us? Clark's not buying the leaching plastics theory, but he thinks you shouldn't drink bottled water because it will drain your wallet. Most bottled water comes from the tap, including Aquafina and Dasani. Just compare the numbers for yourself: Drinking tap water will cost you 40 cents/year vs. $1,500/year for bottled water, according to one study. Then there's the environmental angle: Between transportation, packaging and disposal, bottled water is an eco-disaster. If you're still reluctant to drink from the tap, try using an affordable filter. The Brita system was recently featured on NBC's The Biggest Loser -- a show that's watched by both Christa and Clark's other producer Kim.

Clark does not drink coffee. Yet he's fascinated by people who spend a lot of money at Starbucks. Clark's wife now has their 8 year old daughter hooked on going to Starbucks for non-caffeinated Frappuccinos. But the Seattle-based java giant is for the first time ever experiencing declining sales. Why? Are they too expensive? Not really, according to Clark. This is a classic case of imitation being the sincerest and cruelest form of flattery. Starbucks is facing competition from some unusual suspects like McDonald's! Years ago, Clark went to an experimental McD's in Raleigh, N.C. The store was divided into a McCafé and a standard McD's. The McCafé had bistro tables, a fountain and fancy coffees and pastries on the menu. Clark wondered, "Is this really going to work?" Today there are about 800 McCafés across the nation. They offer vanilla lattes, Café mochas, caramel cappuccinos, iced coffees and other frou-frou drinks -- all cheaper than Starbucks. Look for national TV advertising from Starbucks to fight back against its new competitor. Starbucks had a great infancy, but they're poised for a tough adolescence.

Even Consumer Reports says McD's coffee is the best from any chain -- better than even Starbucks. But Clark's executive producer Christa still thinks coffee from Dunkin' Donuts is tops. She's been buying big packs of D&D coffee at the warehouse clubs. If you're not a member of a warehouse club, you're better off buying your bagged D&D coffee in bulk at a D&D location, not a grocery store. Meanwhile, Christa has some homework. Clark has asked her to figure out the cost per cup when you buy it in bulk at a warehouse club vs. purchasing it cup-by-cup at a store.

How would you like to go in the store and buy meat that looks good yet is actually very old? Meat producers have figured out that by injecting packaging with carbon monoxide gas, they can make meat look perfect even way past its expiration date. Supermarkets have long wrestled with the problem of meat that looks spoiled even when it's good. But now that the processors have this new method, Clark thinks this is taking things one step too far. The Washington Post reports that there's also corruption at play here. Internal memos from the big meat handlers show that this process hasn't been proven safe. This, of course, embarrasses the FDA, which seems to be failing in its mission to protect consumers. Target is one retailer that sells meat that may be packaged with carbon monoxide. Target says it's looking at adding labels to the packaging that would disclose the treatment. But Clark says this is not enough. He still bristles at the idea of using carbon monoxide to make meat look good.

There's a price war going on in the fast food world. At the center of the storm is the humble double cheeseburger. Burger King has announced plans to slash the price of its burger -- which is 30 percent larger than the one offered at McDonald's -- from $1.99 to $1. Meanwhile, McDonald's is getting ready to dump the double cheeseburger from its dollar menu altogether. McD's franchisees are complaining that they're losing money on every double cheeseburger they serve. So it will be interesting to see what happens next between the two fast-food giants. One thing is for sure: This price war is a sign that people are cutting back on discretionary expenses such as eating out now that the economy is slowing. As for Clark, his infatuation with fast food goes back to high school. It was then that his brother came home from law school and made a label for Clark that read "carry-out kit" -- the old-fashioned name for fast-food restaurants. Clark was such a fan even back then that he hung it on the headboard of his bed!

When Clark goes to Europe, he often gets dragged into museums to look at paintings. Much of the Renaissance art he sees depicts people who are slightly chunky because that was the sign of health and wealth at that point in history. It turns out that people from that era may have been on to something. Today our culture believes that being a stick figure is healthy and having some meat on your bones means that you're unhealthy. But the latest health findings from the Centers for Disease Control show that being slightly overweight when you're under 30 doesn't raise your risk of cancer and heart disease. In fact, it can even lessen your risk of death from some illnesses. The findings of the study were revealed in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Bear in mind that some scientists think these findings are faulty, so this not a green light for you to get a little chunky. Take any health advice with a grain of salt—or salt substitute because everyone's so sodium conscious these days!

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and its current head, Nancy Nord, have emerged as villains for Clark in recent weeks. The job of a safety regulator is to ensure that safe products are on the market, right? So do you think it's a good idea for regulators to be wined and dined by the very people they're supposed to be monitoring? "No way not any day," as Clark says. But Nord has been taking all kinds of freebies from the companies she regulates. Clark issued a recent call for Nord to appear on the show and defend herself, but so far her press people haven't been receptive to the idea.

Now the White House is stepping in with new initiatives to keep kids and adults safe in the wake of some highly publicized food and product recalls. Most capitalists would not want to knowingly harm another human being through their business practices. But we still need a cop on the beat to ensure safety. Clark thinks Nord has such resentment toward government that now that she's in power she's trying to curtail government at every step. That's why Clark thinks she's been so lax in her duties. Once again, Clark wants to reiterate that he doesn't think Nord gets up in the morning and says, "How can I harm people today?" But wouldn't you want to know that toys you buy for your child are safe? Of course you would -- and the same goes for the food you give to your family. These are only reasonable expectations.

Clark recently saw healthy Halloween treats in the candy aisle at a supermarket. Who really wants to be the Scrooge who ruins the holiday for kids by handing out nutritionally smart treats? Yet there was a recent article in the The Los Angeles Times about the growing healthy Halloween candy trend. Little pretzel packs, Teddy Grahams and even packets of carrots are among the items that some people now hand out. The idea is for kids to have fun without getting rotten teeth. Clark's 8-year-old daughter is usually not able to eat her Halloween candy because she's allergic to nuts. But she gets a Starburst from her mother for every piece she gives up. If you like to give out Halloween candy, make sure you buy a type you don't like -- that way you won't eat the excess! Bring leftovers to work if you can. Clark brings candy to his workplace that he buys after Halloween for 75 percent off! Clark's executive producer Christa thinks you can save leftover candy and use it next Halloween. But even Clark says that giving out stale candy is way too cheap for him! One caller suggested that leftover candy makes a great Christmas stocking stuffer -- and it won't be stale by then either!

Clark recently trashed the U.S. Department of Agriculture for keeping mum about a known E. coli infestation at a food-processing plant. The case involved a New Jersey food supplier that churned out tainted products for weeks even though the DoA was fully aware of what was going on. There were no fatalities linked to this particular E. coli outbreak, as far as Clark knows. Now the DoA has issued a public apology and vowed to speed up the recall process and increase its number of inspections by 50 percent. We are the wealthiest country in the world -- our standards shouldn't trail behind dozens of other countries.

On a lighter note, the North American Association for the Study of Obesity recently released a study that examined fast-food eating habits. The study found that those who eat fast food five or more times a week -- such as Clark -- have more health problems and weight issues than those who don't. But Clark also believes that eating at a high-end restaurant five times a week will probably make you obese too. Meanwhile, Clark recently read that fast-food restaurants are installing robots to take your order. He's even used one at a Burger King. The funny thing is that a robot sells up so much better than a human. Customers are more likely to order huge portions from a machine than from a human -- because the robot won't guilt them in any way!

How many cups of coffee do you drink a day? Clark says his wife's day doesn't get going until she has her coffee. Clark's executive producer Christa is up to about two cups a day, while Joel -- his producer -- enjoys one cup of coffee after dinner per day. They all brew their java at home. If you're a coffee lover, you might be seeing some headlines that may scare you. Brazil -- the dominant producer of arabica beans -- is facing a drought that promises to raise the price of coffee, according to a recent report in Barron's. But the impact on those who drink at home will probably be minimal because it's so inexpensive to begin with. Instead of being four cents per cup at home, it might be six or eight cents. However, many people enjoy their coffee outside of the home at an expensive shop. So the message here is brew your beverage at home! Clark's wife converted to drinking coffee at home when she got a fancy automated electronic brewing center. Her cost is about 23 cents per cup, but there's no mess or fuss and it saves them a bundle instead of going to Starbucks.

Clark was surprised when he recently read an article written by Greg Karp that details how much you can save on groceries at Walgreens, CVS and Rite-Aid, which are the three major drugstore chains. Clark typically thinks of these places as convenience stores that happen to sell prescription drugs. He'd rarely think of buying groceries at them. But in the article, Karp challenged Coupon Mom Stephanie Nelson to see how well she could do buying groceries at drugstores. When the dust settled, Nelson bought $266 of merchandise for $5.63! It's very unlikely that anyone other than Nelson could save that much, but the article really prompted Clark to adjust his thinking. Be sure to check Coupon Mom's site for her for tips on saving at the drugstore chains.

Restaurants often put healthy selections on the menu and then report that no one orders them. People claim they want healthy food, but what they say and what they order are two different things. Think about the frozen yogurt craze. People took what should be a low-fat healthy meal and then piled on hot fudge, nuts and syrups to make it fattening! But now there's a supermarket chain in New England that may be proving people really do buy healthy things.

The Hannaford Bros. chain has launched a new nutrition-labeling program that aims to help make healthy shopping easy. The New York Times reports that Hannaford has gone through some 20,000 food items in its stores and labeled each of them with zero to three stars. Foods with zero stars are processed, fatty and sugary. Foods with three stars are things like vegetables, lean meats, beans, whole grain items and more. Sales of items with multiple stars have skyrocketed while those with zero stars have plummeted. Clark loves that people have access to easy-to-understand information for making better choices -- even if he still would prefer to eat foods from the zero stars group! But to his credit, Clark has gone from eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream nearly 365 days/year to about 25 days/year. He credits his doctor with helping him cut back instead of just going cold turkey and relapsing. And for those of you wondering about Clark's favorite flavor, it's Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Caramel Fudge!

In the time-honored tradition of the "What I Did on Summer Vacation" essay, Clark opened the show today by talking about how he spent the summer break. This summer found Clark and his family at their beach home in Florida quite a bit. They also took a trip to San Francisco, where Clark and his wife visited relatives and did a lot of walking. Now that his family's vacation time has winded down, reality has set in especially hard for his teenage daughter. She's off at college for the first time this year. Unfortunately, she got a $77 parking ticket during her first day on campus because she didn't have a parking pass. Talk about the school of financial hard knocks! On a related note, Clark often chides his daughter when he sees her with bottled water. There was a recent study that compared the cost of drinking bottled water to the cost of drinking tap water. Consuming tap water will run you about 49 cents for the entire year, while drinking the same amount of bottled water will burn a $1,400 hole in your wallet! Many people still prefer bottled water to tap water because of taste and/or safety issues. In fact, Clark's beach home has notoriously bad tasting tap water. His solution? Just use a relatively inexpensive filtration system to clean up your tap water and make it taste great. Clark wants everyone to consider this option -- especially as more and more brands like Aquafina and Dasani are revealed to just be tap water in a fancy bottle with a huge price markup. Who wouldn't want to save $1,400 a year?

Have you ever dropped food on the floor and picked it up to eat it? Clark sometimes thinks it’s OK for parents to let their kids do this because it builds their immune system. There's the five-second rule, which holds that anything on the floor for five seconds or less is OK for human consumption. Yet the FDA says that the five-second rule is bogus. Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that if the fallen food in question tastes good -- like a cookie or piece of cake -- people will even push it to 15 seconds! But stomach aches and other intestinal distress can be associated with this practice, so be careful. The book answer is that it's not a good idea to eat food off the floor, but people probably won't be changing their ways anytime soon!

One town in Massachusetts is changing everything about how they treat weight problems. They have decided to treat the issue of child obesity very seriously. The menu at the local schools has changed dramatically, with more whole grains and fresh fruits. Their program is called “Shape Up” and also includes more exercise for the youngsters and easier ways to walk to school. The amazing thing is that the serious approach to this problem is producing results. Kids in this town weigh less than kids in nearby towns. Our society has become more sedentary with all of our amazing inventions that make our lives easier. This makes it more difficult though, to stay fit as well. It is an amazing thing that the effort of this community is making a huge change in the lives of their youth.

Two buck chuck, the cheap wine based out of California has changed the entire industry. They have now sold over 300 million bottles in 5 years. $15 used to be the price point that people would not go below to get wine; but because the Two-buck-Chuck actually tastes good, people now know that they are able to get good wine for a reasonable price. So just remember, a higher price doesn’t always mean a better product.

When you go to a restaurant, you want to believe you’re being treated with the best service and care, right? Well, Smart Money recently published a “10 Things” list of things a restaurant doesn’t want you to know. The first is that you don’t want to go on a restaurant on Monday nights. Word is that they use day-old food that wasn’t used over the weekend. So, it’s not terrible, but if you’re paying big bucks you may want to go later in the weekend. Secondly, if a restaurant has a stew or soup on the menu, it is likely made up of ingredients weren’t used over the weekend. Another one to avoid is the “specials” on the menu. Often, servers don’t tell you the price of the specials as a way to jack up the bill. Be sure to ask the price of an item. Also, profit margins for dessert and drinks are huge. So, avoid those if you can. Fix something yourself when you get home.

Weather is hitting us hard these days, and our crops have suffered. Many crops were wiped out by the freezes going on around the country, so demand is high. If you like fruits and vegetables, or you enjoy eating a salad every day, you’re going to pay a lot more for these. Clark wants to warn you!

You may laugh when you hear the words plug-in hybrid. But these are not just for nerds and tree huggers anymore. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that our country can become energy-independent if more people drive these cars. And there is an obvious interest in this topic. It was the most e-mailed story for days after the story came out. People are ready to listen to the ideas about plug-in hybrids.

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In other energy-related news, chicken fat and waste can be turned into fuel to operate trucks. There is a huge problem with this waste, yet someone has come up with a way to use it that will cut down on costs and help our energy production. We want to remain strong and powerful in the world and reducing our energy consumption is the way to do it.

You may have heard that New York City is banning trans fats in restaurants. There are about 20,000 restaurants in Manhattan alone, but somehow the city is going to get rid of trans fats. The ban will take place over the next 18 months and you’ll probably see fewer items on the menu. Clark gets a lot of e-mails about his terrible eating habits, so he is not pointing fingers here. But he doesn’t think government should interfere with restaurant practices. It just isn’t a legitimate role of government I his opinion. Something more appropriate would be to require restaurants to disclose which foods have trans fats. Then, people can make the decision themselves. Some people feel the same way about the cigarette ban and proposed alcohol ban. Knowledge is a good thing; prohibition is not. Tell us what you think in our recent poll.

This year, we are experiencing the greatest oversupply of wine ever. At the same time, wine is getting better. So, if you like wine, you are loving it right now! Wines are much less expensive and of much better quality these days. There is a twist you need to know about though. Vineyards that normally sell expensive, high-quality wines don’t want to lose their cache or the reputation of their good name by selling their bottles for much cheaper. But they need to make money. So, they are rebottling and relabeling these expensive wines and selling them for much less. Bottles that normally cost $100 are being repackaged and sold for $10 or $15. So, try something new these days that costs much less. It could actually be a fine wine concealed with a different label.

British companies and American companies compete all the time in the supermarket business. If you’ve traveled around Great Britain, you may have shopped at a Tesco, for example. It’s a traditionally European chain, but the company is starting operations in the States. They’ve been building stores in the West and will continue to open a few hundred a year. They offer very clean, well-organized stores and the items are in the mid-priced range. They will compete with Safeway and Kroger, but they look as good as a Whole Food. So, they gain market share very quickly. The stores, starting in California, Nevada and Arizona, will be about the size of a Walgreen’s. So, not too big and not too small. You will benefit from having Tesco in your corner, but some of the grocery stores you know may go away.

Clark has trouble sometimes in the grocery stores, especially when it comes to buying fruits and vegetables. He often asks for help from people around him but he never really learns the trick to picking fresh produce. The good news is that there may be a way around that problem. A professor from the University of Arizona has designed a sticker that will change color when the item is fresh. Clark thinks this has huge market power if it actually works.

Consumer Reports has come out with another restaurant issue and Clark wants to share the results. In the steak house category, the upscale restaurants were The Capital Grille, Ruth’s Chris and Morton’s. In the mid-price range, Longhorn got top honors. In traditional American category, Houston’s was No. 1 and J. Alexander’s was No. 2. The best Italian chain was Carrabba’s and McCormick & Schmick’s got top seafood honors. The restaurant also got the best overall score of any restaurant. In the “unusual dinner houses” category, Rainforest Café and P.F. Changs got high honors. The lowest score out of all 103 restaurants went to Friendly’s.

Whole Foods is trying to change its image. The company is incredibly successful, has great quality products and his lovely to shop in. But people think it is too expensive. Some folks are willing to spend the money and Whole Foods has been doing quite well serving that demo. But other food stores are starting to offer organic, quality foods at better prices and people aren’t as loyal to Whole Foods. As a result, Whole Foods has started a campaign called “More of the Good Stuff for Less.” The company says it is competitively priced but doesn’t do a good job of marketing it. So, Whole Foods is going to start featuring their private label and store brands. Clark thinks they company is going to have a hard time shaking its expensive image, but we’ll see.