Black Friday took a tragic turn when a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death by a mob of riotous shoppers in New York. Early reports suggested that many shoppers wouldn't let other workers get to the fallen employee to help him; they just kept trampling over his body. The police had been called in for crowd control, but had to leave because there were 3 other near-riots underway at other stores.

American retail has got to think of a new way to handle Black Friday. Maybe it involves assigning people numbers via the Internet that dictate when they can come to shop. Anything so we don't duplicate this mob frenzy ever again.

Of course, it is possible to do Black Friday and have fun. Our producer Joel and a friend went to Wal-Mart at 1 a.m. They played cards in the store until 5 a.m., when he could buy a 42-inch LCD (1080p) for $598.

All in all, sales were up 7% from a year ago at a time when retailers were expecting a big lump of coal. The coal came on Saturday and Sunday after the initial excitement of the day after Thanksgiving. Clark went to a Target on Sunday and he swears there were more employees at the store than customers!

Some of the best deals to be had this Black Friday were on clothing. The GAP reportedly had buy-one-get-one cashmere sweaters. But that didn't interest Clark; he only likes single-digit clothing. At a Wal-Mart, he found ski gloves marked down to $5. What will he do with 35 pairs?? Just kidding!

During this Black Friday, you can expect to see huge sales on electronics and toys. Clothing will not be that key of an item on that day -- even though there will be some deals on threads too.

One big electronics sale item this year is going to be Blu-ray players. In general, people haven't been buying Blu-rays even when they're discounted because the movies are very expensive. This year, however, several retailers will be offering Blu-ray movies at $10 each.

This is also the first Black Friday that the Wii will be available in meaningful supply -- and it's being discounted. Sam's Club is doing a family bundle that comes with accessories and 3 games for $224. (Editor's note: Thanks to our listeners who pointed out that there was a typo on the Black Friday website Clark was looking at when he mentioned this on air. The correct price now appears to be in the $425-$450 range.)

It also looks like the penny-pincher's September prediction about 42-inch flat-screen TVs for $499 is going to be right.

Meanwhile, you can expect stores such as TJ Maxx, Marshall's and Costco to have some great inventory. Why? They're among the few truly ethical retailers with ironclad policies that demand they pay suppliers for merchandise within 30 days or so. That's so atypical in retail.

Clark loves the electronics deals you can scoop up on Black Friday -- the Friday after Thanksgiving that's typically thought of as the biggest shopping day of the year.

Wal-Mart's Black Friday deals have leaked, and there are some real steals to be had:

• 50-inch flat-screen TVs for $798 (instead of some $2,000)
• Blu-ray players for $128
• Xbox with a Guitar Hero package for $199
• A microwave for $25
• Clothing for children starting at $4
• Tons of toys for under $10 each

But you may not even have to wait until Black Friday to start saving. Retailers are fearing the worst about the economic slump and already rolling out the Black Friday deals to entice shoppers. Visit BlackFriday.info, GottaDeal.com and BFAds.net for further information.

One note: It's called Black Friday because retailers spent most of the year losing money (aka being in the red) and traditionally only started making money (aka being in the black) on this day.

There are so many warnings about how dangerous it can be to buy gift cards this Christmas. Under current law, if a restaurant or retailer goes bust, it falls to the bankruptcy court judge to determine the rights of gift card holders. But most judges have been unanimous in wiping out gift card holders.

Now Clark has learned that various consumer groups are petitioning the FTC to issue guidelines that would require retailers and restaurants to escrow gift card money. This would protect consumers and safeguard them from getting burned in the event a business goes bust.

There is one kind of gift card that Clark likes -- the kind where you get more than you pay for. For example, some restaurants might offer $125 worth of food if you buy a $100 gift card. Yet even Clark has gotten burned on this type of gift card once.

The real solution? Use the penny-pincher's no-gift-card certificate!

Clark wants to thank his Phoenix affiliate KFNN for hosting him during a daylong Habitat house build in the Grand Canyon State. The build was sponsored by a local credit union and included national sponsors such as Boeing, Intel and others.

This was the local Habitat affiliate's 707th house build. Each individual Habitat affiliate uses a different method of construction, so Clark learns something new wherever he goes.

The whole point of Habitat's mission is to build affordable housing. In Phoenix, families need to put 400 sweat equity hours into the construction process. This particular house Clark helped build for a day was going to Muslim refugees from Kosovo who had a 3-year-old child.

So here you have an evangelical Christian organization building a home for a Muslim family -- who had to flee the violence of war in their homeland. It's a heartwarming story.

In all, Clark spent 4 days in Phoenix and ate at In-N-Out Burger 3 times! He also got to go to Fresh & Easy. He previously spoke about the grocer, but he never had the chance to make a visit. The store was absolutely freezing -- employees even had to wear overcoats -- because they sell groceries with no preservatives that need to be kept at refrigerated temperatures. Clark loved the prices he saw on name brands, but he doesn't know how long Fresh & Easy will be around if they keep losing money like they have so far.

Have you noticed that electronics and toys are packaged with seemingly indestructible anti-shoplifting packaging? Sometimes it seems like manufacturers get joy out of knowing people struggle to open their packages.

In an effort to ease shoplifting concerns, some retailers have taken to locking their merchandise up in a cage. They simply display empty boxes on the shelves. But the funny thing is that when you get the item out of the cage, it's still packaged in the indestructible pod!

Now Amazon is putting new emphasis on what's being called "frustration-free packaging." The company is declaring war on "wrap rage" by launching streamlined packaging on about 2 dozen popular products. Clark hopes that Amazon's marketplace dominance will force manufacturers to make similar packaging changes across the industry.

Just days ago, Clark shared a recap of his anger over Circuit City's 2007 decision to fire all their knowledgeable employees and managers in an effort to cut the company's bottom line.

The fruit of that decision has now been revealed: Circuit City has filed for bankruptcy. "The intelligent choice" was once the company's slogan. The intelligent choice? Get real, people.

Circuit City gift cards are still being honored -- for now. But as The Wall Street Journal points out, now is great time to use any Circuit City gift cards and take advantage of their special closing-out sales. Remember, a gift card is just a promise to honor your legal tender at a later date. But that's a bad bet now with retailers and restaurateurs failing.

Now let's turn to GM. Analysts have found that GM stock has sunk to the lowest level since WWII. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. GM's market value is back to where it was when we had just defeated the Nazis. The company's CEO now says they will need a bailout from the lame-duck Congress. They can't even survive until Obama gets in office.

As you may know, Clark is totally opposed to any bailout of the automakers. He believes it's bad for the country and bad for our image around the world. In capitalism, you're supposed to go bust if you can't make it. And if we bail the Big 3, where does it all end? Should the owner of the corner hardware store go to Washington looking for help because the housing market slowed and he or she can't compete with the big box stores?

Yes, Clark knows we opened up a Pandora's box with the Wall Street bailout, which he thought was a necessary evil. But it's a whole different issue when you're talking about bailing out individual corporations that have failed.

And much like the Circuit City gift card concern, if you buy a GM car and they go bust, will your warranty be any good? We've been getting so many calls about dealerships offering free tires for life and then going bust. Know that a promise only stands if the business is still around to honor it.

We have changed so much about how we shop in these tough economic times. We're buying more generic and store brands than ever seen before. This trend has cut across income levels and even affects what people who have not been pinched in the wallet are buying.

The October retail sales figures were pitiful for stores selling mid-range and high-end goods. Just about the only retailer looking good is Wal-Mart. No surprise there!

Meanwhile, Whole Foods -- a real symbol of people wanting a fancier grocery shopping experience -- has had to close stores and cut back on new store openings. They also needed a private injection of $425 million to stay afloat.

Clark's wife loves shopping at Whole Foods, which Clark derisively calls "Whole Paycheck" because of their expensive prices. Thankfully, they have a defibrillator near the register for the penny-pincher when he accompanies his wife! Clark is hopeful that Whole Foods can figure out a good value proposition for their customers. But they face a threat from Trader Joe's, which always seems to open near Whole Foods locations and siphons customers away.

In the long run, if we continue our newfound emphasis on thrift, it will help make a wealthier America. Yes, it hurts retail in the short term and makes our current recession deeper. But the recovery down the road will be ironclad.

Going back to May 2007, Clark went berserk about the Circuit City CEO who decided to fire experienced employees and managers in order to cut costs. Clark was outraged at the inhumane way the company treated loyal longtime employees.

It didn't take an analyst to see what the result of the move would be: Customers walked when they couldn't get any decent help in the stores. Now Circuit City is barely alive and Clark doesn't see how they'll get out of this jam. After all, many suppliers aren't shipping merchandise to them anymore -- because they know the company is on its last leg.

Retail is entirely self-cleansing. If you don't meet the needs of your customers, you cease to exist. Circuit City is simply getting what it deserves.

Remember, you're nothing without your employees. Businesses have to romance their workers, so that their workers will romance the customers. Managers should use specific individualized positive reinforcement when dealing with employees. Clark compares it to the process of raising a child; you've got to nurture, encourage, support and discipline that child with specific examples.

CLARKONOMICS: Federal data now shows that consumer spending has dropped at the greatest rate since 1974. Many adult Americans have no historical frame of reference to gauge things by when it come to that. So this will be the first true belt-tightening that some of us will have to go through.

Clark's old rule applies to today's climate: If you're pinched in the wallet, try to limit the amount of time you're in a store -- even for groceries. Go to a strict shopping-list system to avoid impulse purchases and buy your non-perishables only once a month. When it comes to perishables, you should only get them on an as-need basis.

You can save by not being in the grocery aisle. Also, try Amazon.com as a place to buy your non-perishables -- if it proves to be a cheaper option for you. Of course, any grocery industry analyst can tell you that one of the cheapest places to buy your groceries is Aldi!

In a related arena, we can expect more unemployment in the coming months. Clark always thinks it's particularly sad when someone is doing great on the job and they're still canned because of larger market forces. He's seen that happen several times over the years in the radio industry.

There's no time like the present to trim your spending, build some savings and reduce your debt!

What are you doing with your retirement savings plan? New research from Money magazine show a pretty even split down the middle, with about 50% of investors going to the sidelines and 50% staying in the game.

Clark only analyzes his holdings on a quarterly basis. He doesn't react to every movement of the Dow. After all, the Dow is only a measure of 30 stocks. If you want to look at one indicator, try the S&P 500. At least that monitors 500 publicly traded companies.

So, yes, Clark has lost money, but he's not changing anything. He has a plan and goal that he's sticking to -- instead of making an emotional decision. Historically, stocks recover before an economy does because stocks are a forward-looking indicator.

On the flip side, a nice little run-up does not mean the coast is clear. Investors talk about the "dead cat bouncing," which means that anything looks like it is on the way up if it falls from high enough. That's why Clark recommends dollar-cost averaging, which is a clever little term for putting money in steady as you go. It's like buying distressed merchandise.

Clark contributes automatically through his payroll, plus he has a separate investment account where he puts his money in on the 17th of each month. Before you go thinking 17 is the magic number, that's actually just an arbitrary day that he uses!

Human nature being what it is, we have a tendency to buy high and sell low. Try to resist that impulse when you hear the drumbeat of negative news. Half of you are with Clark and half of you are not, according to the Money stats. Think 2 or 3 times before bailing out completely.

Clark has a special tip and warning concerning the many retailer failures that we'll likely have from now until mid February. That means you can expect a wave of going out of business (GOB) sales advertising anywhere from 20% to 90% off!

But beware, things aren't always what they seem. A failing business will put their assets up for bid and contract with the third-party liquidation firm that comes in with the highest bid. The GOB liquidator gets the right to operate under the name of the previous business for a specified period. They buy the existing inventory for so many cents on the dollar, plus bring in goods that were never in the store.

That's right, they bring in "fake" merchandise that is marked up just so it can be marked down. The GOB liquidator typically also offers retention bonuses for the old workers to stay on or they simply bring in new employees.

Even as they discount, they make huge margins by pretending the merchandise was worth much more upfront. You think you're getting a deal, but you're really getting rooked.

Clark thinks states should require a 2-color price tag system: One for original stocked merchandise and a second color for "fake" goods. Of course, he doesn't see this happening -- especially considering the powerful retail lobby at the state level.

One final warning: With more retailer failures coming, do not buy gift cards! A gift card is going to be Confederate money. So what should you give? Try cold hard cash.

El Cheapo Man has a confession to make -- he's not that great with couponing. Clark doesn't like going through the Sunday fliers and clipping coupons. He'd rather just go to Aldi and buy groceries at a great savings.

But many don't like the Aldi experience or they may not be in your state. So if you go to a traditional supermarket, you may now be able to have the coupons electronically appended to your membership card. Check with your store to see if they participate.

In another development, you can even get coupons sent directly to your cell phone. Clark is registered for a free service called CellFire.com that sends barcode coupons to his handset. He simply scans the coupon at the register directly from his phone. What a way to get the savings and not be annoyed with clipping coupons!

Editor's note: While CellFire.com is free, your wireless carrier may charge a fee when you use the service. See the company's terms of service for more information.

Clark loves traveling to Europe, but he's often taken aback by the high cost of food. His solution? Shopping at hard discounters like Aldi, Lidl and Netto. Aldi is the only one of the 3 that has a presence in the United States with about 1,000 stores and growing.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Americans spend only 1% of their grocery dollars in hard discounters. In Europe, that figure is 11%. Europeans also buy 1 out of every 4 items as a store brand. Here in the U.S., however, we're so influenced by advertising that many people won't buy the store brand.

The store brand food at Aldi is just as tasty, but you spend up to 40% less vs. a traditional supermarket. When you go to a hard discounter, here's what you can expect: No grocery bags; limited banker's hours; cash-only purchases; long lines; small aisles; and only one-fifteenth the selection of a usual grocery store. But the latter can work to your benefit -- there's no need to compare 5 brands of the same item because you only have 1 or 2 choices!

As a longtime Aldi customer, Clark has noticed that the shoppers seem to be either very affluent or quite poor -- based on the cars in the parking lot. It's as if middle-class people don't think it's respectable to shop at a hard discounter.

Have you heard about neo-haggling? The Chicago Tribune reports this new trend involves haggling in stores that you normally wouldn’t. Macy’s even had to release a statement expressly stating that they do not haggle.

Stats suggest that half of all consumers haggle at stores that in the past were thought of as fixed price. In a shocking development, people are even bargaining at restaurants! Just don’t try to haggle on a bill after you’ve eaten the food, Clark says. That’s really nervy!

It’s gotten easier to negotiate as many stores have a “we will not be undersold” policy. So go on the web, print out a cheap price and try to get a match at your favorite retailer. That’s the un-nervy way to do it.

As he’s traveled throughout the Third World, Clark has never liked the bazaar mentality where a price is not a price; it’s just a starting point for negotiation. That’s not his kind of game. But obviously people love it all across America.

Clark does, however, use online coupon code sites like CouponMountain.com and DealNews.com, among others. Once during a Dell purchase, he found an online coupon code and got an unexpected discount that was much better than just the usual free shipping offers that abound on such sites.

The penny-pincher also checks Woot.com everyday. Woot sells only one item per day at a rock-bottom price. Clark recently got a memory chip for his phone that was cheaper than he’d ever seen it anywhere before.

Clark has a special warning concerning credit cards for those who travel. American Express -- which has reported lower earnings and a much higher rate of charge-offs -- is using new software that can unexpectedly harm some of its best customers.

According to The Wall Street Journal, AMEX now uses data-mining software to analyze where you use your card and shut off your credit line if they deem it necessary -- based on where you shop. This is even happening to elite customers who carry Platinum cards.

Customers who shop at Wal-Mart or Marshall's, plus those who have a mortgage through Countrywide, are suspect in AMEX's estimation. The company's software tells them that those customers are more likely to default on their accounts -- even if they've never been late in their lives!

This is really just a gross overreaction on AMEX's part. Clark shops at Wal-Mart, so he's expecting his Costco-branded AMEX to be shut off at some point! And furthermore, the logic just doesn't seem to work out here. Would shopping at overpriced high-end stores at the mall then mean you're more likely to pay your bills than shopping at a discount store?

The MBAs must have too much time on their hands, to take discrete pieces of info and make an ironclad determination about you. As always, the forum is open for an AMEX spokesperson to come on the show and refute The Wall Street Journal's report.

The takeaway here is that you should have more than 1 line of credit available at all times, especially if you travel. Who wants to be stuck somewhere and not be able to rent a car or get a hotel room?

Of course, you should only have multiple lines of credit if you know you won't spend yourself into oblivion!

There's a popular Texas expression during the political season that goes, "All hat, no cattle." It basically means someone is all talk with nothing to back it up.

Clark was starting to feel like he was "all hat, no cattle" when he kept hammering home that right now is a golden moment for entrepreneurs. Now he wants to share some corroborating evidence to support his position.

The vacancy rate in malls is around 8.5%, and it's expected to head higher. Pretty soon every 1 in 10 square foot of retail space will be empty across the country.

This is great news for business owners. It means they can shop the market for better rent or nicer digs. There will also be plenty of sublet opportunities for those entrepreneurs just starting out.

When Clark was a business owner, he routinely got smaller spaces, smaller desks and smaller chairs to keep his overhead down. He'd squeeze more people into smaller square footage. Christa's just glad that he's not in charge of the studio facilities. She likes her spacious office too much!

In addition to just finding cheaper space, a down economy allows you to hire labor for less and get cheaper advertising. So now may be the ideal time to try out that entrepreneurial idea you've always had. Think about Sol Price and Fred Smith who launched the first warehouse club and FedEx, respectively. They both created business models that never existed before and then morphed them to keep up with the times.

How about you?

This holiday season, retailers are hurting at the only time of year that some of them ever make a penny. Naturally, many have responded by slashing prices. Wal-Mart is offering toys at $10 a piece to appeal to financially stretched customers. This should have a ripple effect in the marketplace. The mega-retailer is also beginning its full Christmas rollout now as they try to get people shopping before Halloween!

Other retailers are reducing prices too. Home Depot and Lowe's are both getting decimated as people have stopped spending on their houses. So Home Depot has lowered prices on some 1,000 items to create a value proposition. Also, when it comes to home improvement, now is a great time to zig when others zag. Contractors will be more responsive and their prices will be cheaper when their business is in a slump.

If you're struggling this holiday season, try doing something other than buying gifts. Make a meal, craft a gift or just spend time with your loved ones in lieu of shopping for more stuff they'll wind up returning. It's gotten to the point where the holidays are just a shopping festival far distanced from their original religious origins.

This Christmas is going to be very different for retail. You'd have to go back to 1991 or the early '80s to see a similar period when people cooled on the "shop 'til you drop" mentality. This year, we're worried about layoffs, having our hours cut back and other economic woes.

Retailers know we're on a buyer's strike, so they've paired back on their buying. Those who didn't use fancy software to track and predict sales trends -- such as Sears -- had to take big markdowns because they overbought. After all, the buying decisions for Christmas were made earlier this year before the economy got overly soft. To complicate things this year, the key weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost a week shorter than in 2007.

So here is Clark's prediction: Sales for Christmas will start in mid to late October -- not Nov. 1 as it has been in recent years. You'll find the best deals up through about Dec. 10 and then again after Jan. 5. The real deep bargains happen in January. And of course, Black Friday will have the deals, but you shouldn't have to wait that long this year.

Being out of style -- like Clark -- is in style again! Shopping at second hand stores is gaining in popularity. The goods they have are of a higher quality than just a few years ago -- thanks to the waning fortunes of some who were living high on the hog and now have unloaded their wardrobes.

The Los Angeles Times now reports that 80% of second-hand stores are experiencing a jump in traffic over the last 12 months. Meanwhile, people are even buying used wedding dresses on eBay, according to the report. One woman bought hers for $20 on eBay!

To those who turn their noses up at wearing used clothes, you've got to realize the clothes are laundered. And did you ever stay at a hotel? That bed has been used by strangers night after night. The sheets are fresh, of course, but you're sleeping in the same bed.

So don't be afraid of used clothes. Our senior producer Kim buys 60% of her clothes used and only pays single-digit prices.

Clark has a special warning as we approach the holiday season about avoiding having your money blown to smithereens on gift cards.

The danger is that more and more retailers and restaurants are going to face extinction in a tight economy. That means a gift card you buy today may be fool's gold tomorrow. And let's not even mention "breakage," which is a term that denotes the huge profits made when a gift card goes unredeemed.

Not sure what to give someone if you're not going the gift card route? Try cash. It's not as crass and unsentimental as it sounds.

Learn this in the school of Clark Smarts before you learn it in the school of financial hard knocks!

"Call now! Operators are standing by!" Clark wants you to be careful about TV offers. He recalls a fun news story he did about five years ago where he ordered a number of products off television ads. Each one was hyped to be the greatest product ever sold. In the news spot, they first showed the TV demonstration, then they cut to Clark actually using that same item. Not a single product worked like it did in the commercial! One of his favorites was an ultra-strong power washer that attached to your garden hose, with a claim that you'd never need to hire a professional power washer for your concrete or siding again. He hooked it up to his hose, turned the water on high, pulled the lever.... and the water barely dribbled out. Nothing happened. At least it made for some great video!

You probably have been burned by a TV offer before. WCPO in Cincinatti recently did a spot on the "Awesome Auger," one of the top products being sold this year. The reporter said the only thing "awesome" about it was the extra charge you might find on your bill once you ordered it. The product was advertised at $19.95. But the "Shipping and Handling" charges totalled $140! Then he proceeded to list all the complaints the Better Business Bureau had received on the product.

Clark just wants you to know that when you see something advertised on a commercial or infomercial, the sales pitch is geared to create a sense of urgency before you come to your senses. ("But wait! There's more!") Know that you can never be sure what you're going to get. If you do buy something, make sure that you have -- in writing -- your right to return the product for a refund. And only pay by credit card so you can dispute the charge if necessary. But the best thing of all? Just say no.

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!

Last year, Clark got so upset over the Supreme Court's 5-to-4 vote that effectively legalized price fixing. The decision allowed manufacturers to set the price you pay in a store. Up until that point, retailers charged whatever they wanted for goods they purchased from a manufacturer.

Clark was furious because the decision meant more money out of your pocket. Retailers that competed fiercely on price would no longer have any reason to do so.

At the time, the Supreme Court swore up and down that the ruling would not negatively impact the price of goods for the average consumer. But let's face it -- the 9 justices probably haven't been in a store in years!

The Wall Street Journal now reports that the Supreme Court's ruling did negatively affect the prices we pay at retail. In fact, the ruling has been one contributing factor in the massive inflation run-up -- along with the price of oil.

Price fixing has no place in capitalism, according to Clark. It is the ultimate in cronyism. Congress needs the guts to overturn the ruling.

In the meantime, you've got to practice brand substitution and buy the most-affordable names you can find.

The Financial Times of London reports that over 80% of the wealthiest Americans have begun looking closely at their budgets and seeing what they can cut out. The business for "mys" -- as in, "my therapist," "my personal trainer," "my personal chef," etc. -- has been taking it very hard.

Likewise, over 80% of the wealthiest also said they passed up buying something right now until it went on sale. Over 50% report not buying a big-ticket item that they were planning to purchase.

So why should you care what the wealthiest Americans do or don't do? Simply put, the ripple effect of their spending is significant. It can actually lead to a further slowdown of the economy.

On the other end of the financial spectrum, Aldi is about to open its 1,000th store in the United States. Aldi typically stocks 1,500 items -- instead of the nearly 40,000 carried by a traditional grocery store. That allows them to keep costs low and pass the savings on to consumers.

It's been said that Aldi is the only retailer that Wal-Mart fears. In fact, Wal-Mart is poised to open a wave of small grocery stores to compete with Aldi. The real winners of this battle will be consumers as the 2 try to undercut each other in price.

CLARKONOMICS: The rise in food prices is affecting everyone from consumers to business owners. In the latest twist, McDonald's is contemplating changing the double cheeseburger to a double hamburger with a single slice of cheese because the cost of cheese has skyrocketed!

Dollar stores are feeling pinched too. The 99¢ only chain doesn't know what to do as their margins get squeezed. Will they have to become the $1.29 store or the $1.99 store?

Clark recently bought orange juice for his kids and didn't notice the container went from 64 ozs. to 56 ozs. The packaging hadn't really changed, so it was more of a hidden price increase.

Everywhere we turn -- whether we're business owners or consumers -- we all have to cut corners. Christa's favorite fish sandwich now only has a half-slice of cheese.

The takeaway is that you have to work overtime to be a better shopper in this new economic climate.

New rules governing the safety of children's toys, cribs and more are set to go into effect by Christmas 2009. While parents won't get the benefit of the legislation immediately, there are a couple of free-market solutions that will cover upcoming holiday season purchases later this year. Read on for further details.

Under the new rules, there will be mandatory third-party testing of products for kids up to age 12. That's before the products make it to market. Other provisions include tougher standards for lead in toys -- which was a problem with imports from communist China. Meanwhile, there will finally be whistleblower protection. Previously, those insiders who blew the whistle risked being fired without any compensation whatsoever.

Fines of up to $15 million will be permissible if children do get hurt, whereas before there was essentially no fining permitted at all.

The new rules beg the question -- when should government get involved? If an industry monitors itself, Clark believes government should stay out. But the toy industry did not govern itself. So they brought the heavy hand of government into their world.

No legitimate business gets up in the morning with the intention of harming children. Yet there's a diffusion of responsibility throughout the industry. You have contract factories, final-assembly factories, wholesalers, distributors, retailers and more in the picture. The responsibility for safe toys gets lost in the mix.

But to the credit of the retail world, both Wal-Mart and Target have come out with their own stiff standards that importers and manufacturers have to meet. The Wal-Mart and Target standards will be effective this coming Christmas. Clark loves such free-market initiatives.

CLARKONOMICS: A few weeks ago, Clark explained why a recession is the best time to start a business. Need more proof? Read on.

Have you noticed vacant storefronts as you drive around? The International Council of Shopping Centers now reports the largest historical increase in vacancies. 1 out of every 7 retail spaces in the United States will vacate this year. That creates great opportunity if you want to open a retail location or a restaurant. Landlords need you! And you're in a powerful negotiating position.

If you have an existing business and your lease is coming up for renewal, once again, you have so much negotiating power. But you must be willing to relocate to a shopping center across the street if need be.

And here's a special warning for entrepreneurs: Make sure you get a kick-out clause in your lease. That will protect you should the anchor retailer vacate from a shopping center. Anchor retailers could be a supermarket, a Target, a Wal-Mart or what have you. If they leave, all the ancillary businesses die as traffic drops off. So a kick-out clause allows you to vacate if the big fish goes elsewhere.

Are you facing a penalty for a kick-out clause? Negotiate a lesser penalty. You've got the upper hand.

Years ago, Clark recalls getting a unique call from a man who explained how he haggled at Wal-Mart. Haggling at a chain store that's already turbo cheap? It turns out that idea is now in vogue. America's Research Group reports that two-thirds of Americans say they've haggled in a store during the last 90 days. The Los Angeles Times reports that some chain stores have now given floor employees the authority to accept lower prices, especially on electronics. Many retailers also have matching policies where you can show them a competitor's ad and get the lower price. Clark's not sure if he thinks of that as bargaining. Do you have a great haggling story? Leave a comment.

Have you ever felt down in the dumps and used shopping as a pick me up? Well, now a journal called Psychological Science confirms what we've long heard anecdotally. People do tend to spend more when they feel down. Are you prone to spend money when you're blue? Clark suggests trying to break the cycle by finding a new response. Go for a walk or go to the park if it's a nice day. Clark likes to exercise when he's feeling down. If you have a conditioned response that's bad for you, you've got to work to change it. This touchy feely kind of stuff is more something that Clark's friend Suze Orman would talk about. But you know what? She's 100% right about this stuff.

Purchases you make on the Internet are tax free, right? Wrong! The states are at it again trying to find new sources of tax revenue as we stare down a recession. They've now turned to trying to get the word out that you're legally required to pay sales tax on Internet purchases -- unless, of course, you live in a tax-free state. That's news to most people.

The courts have decided that web merchants are not responsible for collecting taxes unless they have a domicile in the state where the purchaser lives. But you still owe the tax. North Carolina has been aggressive about trying to collect. Some states are even participating in cooperative efforts where they'll rat you out to other states. We're not talking about something you buy for $12 on Amazon; we're talking about something you might buy for $12K online. 25 states now have a line on their income tax forms to collect sales tax on Internet purchases you've made over the past year. Consumers are expected to keep a log of all their e-commerce transactions and then report them!

A recent study in The American Journal of Psychiatry reveals that about 1 in 16 Americans -- some 6% of us -- have compulsive spending habits.

This kind of behavior leads to a momentary rush of adrenaline, but afterward comes the financial hangover. Christa has done a lot in her life to take control of her wayward spending habits. She believes that if you're always buying new clothes, for example, you disrespect the things you already have in your closet. When the shopping bug bites you, try paying attention to the stuff you've already acquired in your life.

On a related note, Clark once owned a house built in 1937. The master bedroom's sole master closet was all of 2 x 1.5 feet in dimension! During those Great Depression years, that was big enough for a middle-class husband and wife. Today, a closet of that size would never work. Some people have so much clothing that they can go for months without wearing the same thing.

Clark believes the best way to tackle compulsive spending is with shock therapy -- you've got to ban yourself from stores! Let's say you're prone to go on a shopping binge when you feel blue. You've got to make sure you don't even get into the car to go to the store or the mall.

Here are some more thoughts about getting compulsive spending under control:

• Only buy non-perishables every 6 weeks and buy your perishables on a weekly basis.

• Sell all belongings that you don't use. Don't buy new things to replace them.

• Freeze your credit cards (literally) if the temptation to shop is too great. Put them on ice in your freezer.

• Always be mindful of your needs vs. your wants.

• Adopt a cash-only approach.

Congrats to our associate producer Joel who recently became a proud new uncle. "Does your nephew have a job yet?" was Clark's first question upon hearing the good news!

If you've looked at the prices of diapers and formula lately, you're apt to start crying like a baby. Many manufacturers have been passing costs on to consumers for the past few months. Now comes word that Procter & Gamble is bumping up prices by as much as 16% on brands like Tide, Ivory, Gillette shaving cream, etc.

That means there's never been a better time to try off-brands or store brands; in many cases, the quality of the product is just as good. For example, there's little difference between cheap and costly shampoos.

In his TV work, Clark once interviewed a professor who chemically analyzed different shampoos and confirmed their sameness. Conditioner, however, is a different story. So if you must blow money, buy a cheap shampoo and splurge on a nice conditioner.

But Clark's message stands: Ignoring store brands is risky for your wallet. You could save between 30% and 60% by going the generic route.

CLARKONOMICS: The latest retail sales figures are in and show the warehouse clubs and discounters including Wal-Mart are booming. On the other hand, Target and mid-priced clothing retailers are not doing so well -- except for maybe Kohl's.

These sales stats highlight a basic fact: We are completely driven by the goal to spend less for whatever we buy. High gas prices have really chilled retail spending.

But there is a silver lining here for those interested in fashion. September should be a month of great deals on fall clothing. This has always been true, but Clark is expecting the deals this coming season to be unreal.

Of course, clothing sales don't mean much to Clark. His usual "Clarkiform" consists of a free station golf shirt, $9 shorts and socks and underwear for about $1 each. He usually aims to have his whole outfit for under $20.

Yes, some listeners may be thriftier than that because they only buy used clothing. But Clark's bias is against used casual clothing for men. He finds it's usually too threadbare for his taste.

Have you seen the new square-shaped packages for fresh milk at Sam's Club, Costco and elsewhere? The new packaging is more compatible with automated equipment, which means far less handling and quicker transportation. The benefit to consumers is fresher milk at cheaper prices.

But The New York Times reports that many shoppers dislike the packaging because it has caused many spills in kitchens across America. Some retailers are offering milk-pouring classes to reverse the consumer bias.

Clark is not the world's most coordinated guy, but even he can pour the new milk cartons without spilling. His 8 year old, however, is a different story. Likewise, Christa doesn't have any problem with spills when she pours milk for her young children. She also feels like she can buy less milk because it lasts longer.

Meanwhile, ice cream maker Blue Bell has a new ad campaign that stresses how they're not reducing the size of their packaging. Many other competitors are shrinking the size yet keeping the same pricing -- so you're getting less for your money.

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.

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.

Kroger used to be considered an overpriced has-been by a lot of industry analysts in the grocery world. But they've proven more resilient than anyone thought.

The nation's second-largest grocer now is experimenting regionally with a couple of new tweaks at their Ralphs-branded locations.

First, they're limiting the use and redemption of coupons. They've instead taken the items that people commonly comparison shop and lowered the prices to compete with Wal-Mart and other cheaper players.

Second, Ralphs is doing a rewards card program that's in the mold of frequent flyer miles. If you sign up and agree to have your purchases tracked, you can earn vouchers to shop for free groceries.

If these regional tests prove successful, they may be rolled out nationwide.

The grocery industry is in the most intense time of experimentation that Clark can remember. During our last recession, there was not the fierce competition that we have today with the warehouse clubs, Wal-Mart, Fresh & Easy and more. That means your ability to stretch your food dollar is the best it's ever been!

We're sad to report that we may soon have another addition to the graveyard.

This is an unfolding story involving Clark's beloved Steve and Barry's. This innovative clothing retailer has been running an $8.98 or less promo on hip, fashionable threads for several months now.

Steve and Barry's got popular on the strength of their cheap prices and celebrity fashion lines. But they expanded too quickly throughout the United States, which may partly account for their impending failure. The Wall Street Journal and other sources report a bankruptcy announcement may come within a week.

Clark thinks it's a shame.

They were one of the only viable options for cheap and ultra hip sneakers. Steve and Barry's Starbury sneakers -- the signature shoe from NBA player Stephon Marbury -- sold for a mere $14.98. Compare that to upwards of $200 for a pair of Air Jordans!

Clark has long been a big advocate of reducing his electric bill by using compact fluorescent lights in his home. It used to be that Clark installed CFLs in overhead fixtures and his wife put traditional bulbs in all the lamps. But now they're doing almost all CFLs through the house.

They've also done a lot of retrofitting with attic insulation, duct work improvements and weather-stripping around windows and doors. Their energy bill has fallen by about 40%, though complete payback is still several years away.

CFLs are a no-brainer in terms of savings. They cost about $1.10/bulb at the warehouse clubs -- which is still 4 times as much as a traditional bulb. Yet you may save up to $60 over the life of a CFL.

One of the biggest impediments to widespread CFL adoption has been the environmental angle. They're seen as a hazard by some because CFLs contain small amounts of mercury.

Now Home Depot has launched a FREE nationwide CFL recycling program. With safe disposal becoming a reality, Clark can feel good about recommending CFLs!

He is, however, a bit surprised that Wal-Mart or Sam's Club didn't beat Home Depot to the punch. But Home Depot has so many stores that most Americans live within 10 minutes of one, which makes recycling easy.

As Clark has said before, CFLs are just a transitional technology before LEDs (light-emitting diodes) become commonplace in the average American home. LEDs are already showing up in the homes of the ultra rich.

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.)

The attorney general of the state of New York has gone after CVS and Rite-Aid for repeatedly selling expired goods on their shelves, including OTC medications. This has long been a problem in retail, but this is perhaps the first time that it has ever resulted in a lawsuit.

In 2005, Clark himself found OTC medications that were 5 years past their expiration dates on the shelf of a third chain drugstore. He was so fired up that he brought it to the manager's attention. Unfortunately, the manger was underwhelmed by Clark's complaint and didn't seem to care.

Recently while in a warehouse club, Clark discovered expired soft drinks on the shelf. He found an employee and showed them the items. But when he came back a week later, they were still there.

Clark doesn't believe there's any conspiracy to sell us spoiled food. But you must be your own police officer and check expiration dates before you make a purchase.

In fact, the penny-pinching guru describes himself as "obsessive compulsive" when it comes to checking dates. He routinely digs around on the shelves to get the latest possible date on milk and medications.

One caveat: It's difficult to tell if the date is a "marketing expiration date" or the real deal. Some drug makers put an early date on their products to get you to throw them out and buy more.

One of the greatest marketing successes of all time has been American Airlines' Advantage Program. This was practically the genesis of the frequent flyer model that's been adopted across the travel business.

However, most other industries have been slow to try out similar loyalty programs. The office supply superstores are among those that actually have experimented with them. Now Best Buy is really stepping it up with its own new program in the world of electronics retailing.

Best Buy has long had its Reward Zone program, but now the company has introduced Premier Silver member status. Customers who make purchases that exceed $2,500 in a calendar year are automatically enrolled. Premier Silver members get access to a special call center, no restocking fees, a price-matching policy and other perks.

This seems to be mostly carrot and no stick, especially when compared to the banking industry's use of profitability index scores to determine whether they'll treat you right as a customer or not.

Consider this: When your call goes into a banking call center, your "score" pops up on a screen before you speak to the rep. There's also typically a color-coded identifier that accompanies it.

"Green" means do whatever it takes to make the customer happy; "yellow" means it's up to the rep's discretion whether to help you or not; and "red" means don't help this customer under any circumstance.

For many years, people were buying more branded goods than store brands. But that's reversed now as consumers seek to stretch their dollars.

Each November, Clark does a toy test with children in his TV work to help parents sort through all the holiday choices. During a recent test, Target and Wal-Mart branded toys were almost more popular than the name brands.

Today you can buy store brands in most categories -- food, toys, household goods, etc. The warehouse clubs also push their own private labels. Sam's Club has Member's Mark; Costco has Kirkland Signature; and BJ's has Berkley & Jensen, among others. When it comes to OTC drugs, Clark exclusively buys store brands no matter where he's shopping.

So don't rely on emotions and reach for the brand name. Make the decision based on dollars and go for the store brand. And if you buy a store-branded food item and don't like it, take it back and they'll likely refund your money.

It's no secret that Wal-Mart has a horrible reputation in the public eye. But the mega-retailer recently did something great that they're keeping very quiet.

Back in February, Wal-Mart secretly told toy suppliers that they would have to meet strict new standards for toy safety during the coming Christmas season. The new Wal-Mart standards govern how much lead toys can contain, what chemicals can be used in manufacturing and more. Toys"R"Us and Target have since adopted similar standards.

The toy safety issue really boiled over last Christmas with lead showing up in children's trinkets. Parents refused to buy certain items and Wal-Mart -- as the nation's biggest toy seller -- really suffered because of it.

So Clark applauds the company's new move – even though it's clearly profit-driven.

These standards should have come from our politicians. But they're too busy drinking "Inside the Beltway" Kool-Aid, and have lost touch with the people amid all their bureaucratic wrangling.

There's a sort of anarchy with retailers dictating standards to the manufacturers. Yet Wal-Mart, Target and Toys"R"Us account for more than half of all toys sales in our country. So the manufacturers will have to fall into line.

CLARKONOMICS: For the last 10 years, electronics manufacturers have had great success with getting marketers to convince you to go up-market with your purchase. But today, electronics manufacturers realize that consumers are pinched and they're now fighting just to get a sale -- forget about the up-sale.

Sales of flat screens are softening and the price is dropping. For example, Sony is coming out with a new line of HDTVs that will be significantly cheaper than Sonys have been. Historically, Sony has used the cachet of its name to charge higher prices. But that's going to be changing. They won't be as cheap as a Vizio, but they'll almost be there.

The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, reports that camera makers are hitting key price figures ($89-$109 instead of $300) to drum up sales. Anything below $200 is a magic figure in electronics that usually invites men to make impulse purchases.

When August comes around, computers will be the cheapest they've ever been. Look for laptops around $300. The Intel folks have a new processor called the Atom that should routinely help yield prices in the $200s.

So you may not need to spend big bucks on electronics. Look around and see what you can get for under the $200 mark. There may be no reason to go above it.

The furniture business has been hurt greatly by the housing slump. As a result, great opportunity exists at going out of business (GOB) sales and also among some high-end furniture retailers.

But there is a hazard here. GOB sales are often run by third party operators that come in and the pay the owner for inventory. The GOB operator then brings in a wide assortment of junk furniture for the sale. So you have to know a retailer's typical inventory before you buy anything thinking it's a deal.

Be sure to pay with a real credit card if you plan on taking delivery later. Do not use cash and do not use a fake piece of trash Visa or MasterCard debit card. With a credit card, you have 60 days from the transaction to enter a dispute if you never get your furniture.

In related news, summer is moving season -- beware of scam movers! The moving industry has been a haven for mob-backed businesses that may hold your possessions hostage and demand a ransom!

Be safe and find a legitimately certified mover at Moving.org. Also, be sure to get a "binding estimate," which means that you won't be hit with more fees down the road. It's not enough if your contract just says "estimate;" it must say "binding estimate."

Because of outdated laws, your possessions will only be insured at a rate of 60 cents per pound. So you should think about buying replacement value coverage in the event your belongings become lost, stolen or broken.

Planning on renting a truck and making a move yourself? There are huge price differences throughout the month. If possible, don't rent at the end or beginning of a month and avoid the weekends.

Clark has been out of style forever and usually has no idea about what's going on in popular culture. But right now, he's actually in vogue because so many people are concerned about being extra thrifty!

If you pick up any general interest magazine, you'll probably see articles on shopping on a budget or frugal fashion. Newspapers are filled with stories about saving money on everyday purchases. In fact, the media blitz is so intense that people are now getting tired of stories about high gas prices.

Some sectors of the economy are actually benefitting from people's wallets getting pinched. Thrift stores are one example.

Clark is fond of picking up dress clothes at thrift shops. They're usually in great shape because few men dress up for work anymore. Instead, today's standard office outfit usually includes khaki pants and a golf shirt. On the other hand, Clark typically won't buy casual clothing at a thrift shop because he finds it's usually too threadbare.

For women, there's a new gold standard for saving on clothing: Steve and Barry's. This retailer is selling all clothing for $8.98 or less (accurate as of 05/29/08) for a limited time only. They even have fashion lines from famous folks such as actress Sarah Jessica Parker, tennis star Venus Williams and others.

Clark has been excited for years about Steve and Barry's because of their Starbury shoe line. These shoes sell for between $8 and $15. Starburys are almost solely responsible for breaking the ultra expensive Air Jordan stranglehold on the feet and hearts of low income neighborhoods.

The average Wal-Mart Supercenter or SuperTarget eats up about 200,000 square feet and some 20 acres of land. That's a far cry from the tiny "5 and dime" stores of yesteryear. But that's been the trend in most of retail: Bigger is better, as the saying goes.

However, the opposite is now true. Retailers have begun looking at smaller floor plans as people rebel against the "supercenter" mentality. Some retailers have even experimented with putting smaller convenience stores outside the big stores -- to appeal to the shopper who just wants to be in and out.

Aldi and Trader Joe's are 2 smaller-sized food stores that are opening like mad. They're each about one-fifteenth the size of a Wal-Mart Supercenter or a SuperTarget, and about a quarter the size of a modern supermarket.

Wal-Mart is now opening its own smaller food stores called Marketside that will be the size of an Aldi. One of the Marketside ad taglines is "a passion for fresh and delicious food," which sounds a lot like regional player Fresh Market.

The reality is that smaller stores free up land; offer deeper market penetration; and help mega-retailers like Wal-Mart lose the stigma of being big, soulless holes in a neighborhood.

Convenience through smaller size, married to low prices, is the next wave in food markets. The bigger and better era is over!

It's no secret that Clark's executive producer Christa has found a lot of excitement in clothes shopping over the years. Recently she's been trying to change her spendthrift behavior and has detailed the transformation on her blog.

While she's been doing a much better job at saving lately, the old Christa came out with a vengeance when a new H&M opened in the Atlanta area. After dropping her kids at school, Christa got in a queue with hundreds of frenzied woman (and 2 men) hours before the store officially opened its doors. The first 250 people in line received H&M gift cards that had to be scratched off to reveal between $10 and $250 worth of free clothing. The first 250 people also received a free tote bag, umbrella and T-shirt. Christa's gift card turned out to be for $75, while 5 people in line who camped out overnight only got $10 each!

Clark knew she'd go overboard with her spending at this event, and she did…by $93! Christa vows that she's going to return a lot of the items she got, but no one on the staff believes her. Her finds included a couple of "nice" T-shirts for $12; linen pants for $25; and a beautiful cocktail dress for $39, among other things.

H&M is not necessarily a well-known store in the United States, but it's immensely popular in Europe. It's like their GAP, with fashion forward styles that trend a little younger and are fairly inexpensive.

When Clark's eldest daughter was 13, he took her on a father-and-daughter trip to England when he spied a $180 roundtrip fare. But he actually lost money because all she wanted to do was go from one H&M to another on London's Oxford Street. The music was deafening at each location and Clark was saddled with at least 14 shopping bags. Security at each location would eye him suspiciously as he entered the store!

CLARKONOMICS: Retailers and restaurants are both taking it on the chin in today's economy. We're "over-stored" in America with the square footage of retail space exceeding the population count. It's a symptom of the "shop 'til you drop" mentality. Fortunately, Clark thinks we're finally experiencing a shift in this kind of thinking.

Restaurateurs, meanwhile, have always had a tough time even in the best of economies. But now people aren't eating out as much, or they're trading down in meals, or they're using coupons.

So what's the takeaway for you? Beware if you're thinking about giving someone a gift card. The store or restaurant may not be there when they go to redeem it! This is a good year to give people cash or an actual gift because of these dangers. You might also want to check out Clark's no-gift-card certificate. Then again, the upside of not being able to redeem a restaurant gift card is that you'll consume 0 calories!

Years ago, Clark recalls getting a unique call from a man who explained how he haggled at Wal-Mart. Haggling at a chain store that's already turbo cheap? It turns out that idea is now in vogue. America's Research Group reports that two-thirds of Americans say they've haggled in a store during the last 90 days. The Los Angeles Times reports that some chain stores have now given floor employees the authority to accept lower prices, especially on electronics. Many retailers also have matching policies where you can show them a competitor's ad and get the lower price. Clark's not sure if he thinks of that as bargaining. Do you have a great haggling story? Let us know with our new commenting feature!

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.

The book business has been through such tumult. Clark's books have been available via warehouses clubs, independent bookshops and chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders. An indie bookshop owner once yanked a title of his off the shelf when he did a book signing at a Sam's Club. In her mind, Clark was being unsupportive of indie booksellers in an era when they had fierce competition from the chains.

But what goes around comes around. Now Barnes & Noble and Borders are having a tough time because they can't compete with the warehouse clubs, online retailers and discount retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. So it's the chains that now are in a squeeze play. The indie booksellers who have survived figured out how to offer great customer service and cater to special niche audiences. Where is the room for the chains in the middle market? No one knows. Wouldn't it be ironic if the way people end up buying books again is at indie stores, warehouse clubs or online?

Warehouse clubs are not like normal book stores. They offer a fraction of the selection an indie retailer might have, but they sell their stock extra cheap. A new title from a well-respected author might only get a short run in the inventory. Yet one third of people bought a book at a discount store just last year. The Washington Post reports many authors now do book signings at Costco rather than at Barnes & Noble or Borders. Clark is on Borders' e-mail list and they're getting more and more desperate with the deals they send him. If you're an indie bookshop, it's got to be sweet revenge to see the chains struggling.

The World Bank estimates that the cost of food is up 83% over 3 years! Not all of this increase has translated into U.S. supermarkets yet. At the same time, half of all the things we import now come from the Third World where inflation is rising. Foreign inflation will come back to bite us in the form of higher prices on imported goods. So we as consumers have to make a decision between things we'd like to have and things we need to have. In the former category, you have things like electronics and clothing. It might be a good time to take a step back from buying. Fashion-forward retailer Target has just reported rotten sales for March, so that's a sign that some shoppers have already begun dialing back. Meanwhile, food falls into the latter category of things we need to have. So for food items, try brand substitution or buying the store brands at the market.

With cell phones becoming so commonplace, the cell carriers are wondering where to get their next million customers. Clark thinks they may tap the preschool market after they get done with the elementary school kids! In reality, they're focused on taking things that have become popular overseas and bringing them here.

Throughout Asia, you can go up to a restaurant that you don't know anything about; hold your phone up to the window; and photograph a barcode of sorts. That will bring up customer reviews and other information about the restaurant on your handset. The San Francisco Chronicle reports a similar service has now launched in the Golden Gate City. Look for it to become more widespread during the next 18 months to 2 years.

This business model won't just apply to restaurants. Let's say you're reading a magazine. There's an ad for a new release from your favorite musical artist. You'll soon be able to hold your phone up to a barcode on the page and cue up a sample of the artist's latest music. You'll also be able to click a button and purchase their new album. The cell carriers will, of course, get a cut of any e-commerce transactions.

Ultimately, you'll be surfing the web on your cell phone -- if you don't already do so. Clark recently got a Sprint PPC 6800 when his old cell broke. It turns out the PPC is the first cell phone to surf the web at high speeds like DSL or cable modem. When the Crackberry first came out, almost no one used it. Today 14 million Americans are Crackberry addicts. So the web will be huge on cell phones, and the barcode business model will be a part of the coming revolution.

About 2 years ago, a listener informed Clark that moisture degrades shaving blades. So Clark went on his now-famous kick where he used a single 17-cent razor and made it last 1 year by drying it after every use. Well, now comes word that Gillette is marketing a 5-blade razor for women called the Venus Embrace. Once you get past 2 or 3 blades, are you actually getting a closer shave? Not really. The Venus Embrace just allows women to be ripped off just like men in the razor blade aisle! So ladies, if you want to overpay for the Gillette blade at least make it last by drying it off after each use. That way they'll rip you off less frequently.

Clark recently opened a drawer under his sink and found two 55-count bags of Schick double-edged razors. One bag was open and he had 51 shavers left, while the other was completely sealed. Using one blade a year, Clark has calculated that he'd have to go past the century mark in age to use up the 55-count pack that's already open! He'd have to live to be 158 years old to use both packs in their entirety! But he doesn't expect to live that long, so Clark will be donating the unopened pack to a shelter where he and his wife volunteer.

Need another reason why gift cards stink? Back in June, Clark was given a $25 gift certificate to an ice-cream store for his birthday. When he recently went to redeem it, the store was out of business! That's the big risk with gift cards. Similarly, Sharper Image has announced they won't be honoring gift cards as they re-organize through bankruptcy proceedings. Retail and restaurants are very sensitive to the economic slowdown, so you may see these scenarios play out elsewhere.

Mid-priced eateries are under severe pressure trying to maintain the volume of business. Several chains have begun putting glossy ads in the newspaper. BOGO offers on meals are unusual in the mid-priced sector. This trend tells Clark that the restaurant sector may face some door closures. So you may want to rethink buying that gift card at an eatery. When it comes to retailers, try to use existing gift cards before they're no good any longer. Clark and Lane have a bag full of them and are trying to use them before total depreciation.

Meanwhile, financial writer Pamela Yip has discovered that using a debit card to rent a car opens you up to a whole world of hurt. The rental counter will pull a credit report on you and drastically lower your score. Why? They're protecting themselves against auto thieves that love to use debit cards as a low-risk method to get rentals to steal. Use your real credit card instead!

Clark recently told you how Wal-Mart ranked as the worst retailer and the worst grocer when it comes to customer satisfaction, according to the latest ACSI survey. The irony is that people still shop there in huge numbers despite all the complaints. But that may not always be the case.

Before Wal-Mart was the largest retailer in the world, that title was held by Sears and then by Kmart. Both Sears and Kmart are today owned by Sears Holdings, which has now reported that its profits are down by nearly 50%. Sears Holdings' sales are declining rapidly, while cash on hand has dropped from $4 billion a year ago to $1.5 billion now. The marketplace spoke and this is the result.

The Wal-Mart haters have to realize that the marketplace will speak again if Wal-Mart doesn't improve its customer experience. Look at any industry. In the car field, GM used to own this country. Today, they're struggling to survive because they had a tin ear to the customer. The message is clear: If somebody doesn't take care of you, you must use your feet and take care of yourself by taking your business elsewhere.

As a parent, Clark is sick over the fact that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is not doing its job of ensuring that toys are made and sold in a safe manner. CPSC honcho Nancy Nord instead sees her job as protecting manufacturers who have unsafe products on the market. Congress recently gave her the authority to ban lead-filled toys and children's trinkets. But she refused to do so and continues to allow the toys to be sold. If you have young girls, you need to be especially cautious about cheap jewelry and trinkets that are made to look like real silver. Clark advises parents to quietly dispose of these potentially lead-filled trinkets.

It's just insane that Nord has worked to put kids in harm's way in order to protect manufacturers. Clark is beyond anger over her activities; at this point, he's just deeply saddened. The whole thing becomes even more incomprehensible when you consider that Nord is a mother herself. The policy on her watch has been to keep things hush-hush when there's an unsafe product out there. Manufacturers get to sell off their dangerous inventory with the understanding that they'll have to comply with safety standards in future production. Visit SafeKids.org for the latest news. There is no cop on the beat, so you've got to be extra vigilant.

Clark sometimes gives advice on air that he doesn't take -- and then he gets hit with the consequences. Here's an example of his self-proclaimed financial stupidity: Clark predicted that there would be a big push during the Christmas shopping season for hi-def DVD players, either Sony's Blu-ray or Toshiba's HD DVD. The two formats were in a war and he advised consumers to stay out on the sidelines until the marketplace sorted things out. But then he turned around and got a steal of a deal on a Toshiba HD DVD player. Clark jumped because the deal included the player and 5 free movies. He and his wife both loved the picture quality from their HD DVD player.

But now Blu-ray has won the format war, so Clark is stuck with a largely worthless piece of equipment. Now he'll have to wait until the studios put their remaining HD DVD titles on quadruple markdown clearance and snatch them up. As for you, this coming Christmas will be a good time to buy a Blu-ray player or a Sony PlayStation 3, which features built-in Blu-ray. If you're in the same boat as Clark with his dinosaur player, you can also get an HD up-convert DVD player that uses computer technology to simulate a hi-def picture from your existing standard-def DVDs. Clark and his family watched the third Indiana Jones flick on an up-convert and it looked great.

There are spin-off problems in the home improvement and furniture retail industries anytime we move into a housing recession. It's important to remember that all furniture is local. There are very few true national retailers, save perhaps for Ethan Allen. Levitz is liquidating, and another big regional player -- Wickes Furniture -- is up for auction in bankruptcy. For every regional chain that fails, there will be hundreds of ma-and-pa furniture stores that don't make it.

So why does this matter to you? A lot of people pay deposits for furniture that they haven't taken delivery of yet. If you pay with cash, check or debit card, your money is gone if the retailer fails. In his TV work, Clark has done at least 10 stories standing in front of vacant furniture stores with the camera panning from empty wall to empty wall. It's always the same story: Clark interviews some poor soul who talks about how much money they lost on deposit.

There are only two ways to buy furniture. The first is by seeing it, buying it and taking it home. The other way is to pay via your credit card. Beware if you get past the 6-week mark and the furniture still has not been received. Make sure you file a dispute with your credit card company by the 55th day. A credit card is no better than cash if you go past 60 days without filing a dispute. The dispute will take months to process and really just helps you preserve your rights under the law. You can later release a dispute if your furniture arrives. Some people opt for in-store financing, which is a third gray area. You should have the same rights, in theory, as with a major credit card, but the in-store financing creditors are a hassle to deal with if a furniture store goes bust.

Clark has been a longtime advocate of nurse-in-a-box practices, but they're not doing well financially. Several have actually had to close their doors. The idea is still being germinated and needs time to be perfected. Walgreen's and CVS don't care if these in-store practices are lucrative or not; they just like that people are more likely to fill prescriptions inside their stores when there's a nurse practitioner present. Now Wal-Mart is starting a new initiative that has doctors upset because they're aligning with medical centers around the country for new nurse-in-a-box practices. The Wal-Mart facilities will refer patients out to the medical centers if someone is too ill to be seen in-store. Wal-Mart is also partnering with one urgent care chain owned by AOL's Steve Case in a couple hundred markets.

The nurse-in-a-box trend provides an advantage to the American people that's not being discussed: More than half of the clients are uninsured. That means your neighborhood nurse-in-a-box helps de-clutter the emergency room at your local hospital, allowing people with real medical emergencies to be seen faster. This pressure valve release is all to the good, according to Clark. He knows doctors will be alarmist about somebody dying at a nurse-in-a-box. But medicine involves educated hunches -- it is part art, part science. It's just as ridiculous to expect perfection from doctors as it is to expect it from a nurse practitioner. One out of every 6 dollars goes to medical care in our economy. That's by far the highest in the world. Nurse-in-a-boxes will not be the solution to what ails healthcare, but they will relieve some of the pressure on the system.

CLARKONOMICS: Mid-priced and high-end retailers have been reporting terrible January sales figures. This trend was not expected when you consider that sales of gift cards were slightly up during the holidays. The only retailers who made out OK were the deep discounters and warehouse clubs. Macy's has just announced they're going to be cutting more than 2,000 jobs amid their January sales decline of 7 percent. When you factor in inflation, the mega-retailer has fallen off a cliff. Part of the problem has been the company's corporate arrogance. They decided all their goods had to be self-branded and got rid of their beloved Marshall Field's imprint (and a lot of warm, fuzzy customer goodwill in the process).

This downward trend in retail means there are going to be deals in the mass affluent market (Coach, Tiffany, etc.) and at mid-priced clothing retailers. One area where you won't find bargains is in the world of flat-screen TVs. There's just too much demand still. Prices in some cases are higher than they were in October. Meanwhile, the Wii still is in short supply. The Wii is allowing nursing homes to have far more activities than they could previously, thanks to its virtual simulation of physical activities.

Wal-Mart was met with so much hostility and skepticism when they launched their $4 prescription plan. People thought they had ulterior motives, but the monster retailer really just wanted to build traffic. Wal-Mart didn't originate the cheap drug business model -- Kmart was already offering a 3-month supply for $15 -- but so far they've been the most successful with it. Everyone in the market has had to respond to Wal-Mart's challenge with their own discount prescription drug plan; regional supermarket chain Publix has even made some antibiotics free!

Now Kroger, the nation's largest supermarket chain, is expanding its trial $4 prescription plan to select markets in Kentucky, Kansas, Utah, Nevada, Georgia and Texas. They're also offering birth control for $9/month. Most doctors are clueless about prescription prices. They're wooed by Big Pharma reps coming in with free food and other swag, and they write prescriptions accordingly. Consumers now have the power to take control of the prescription pad at their doctor's office. So use the power the market affords you to protect your wallet! Before you leave your doctor's office, call the pharmacy and find out if the drug you need can be substituted with a generic. Have the doctor change the script if need be. Take the control back. It's your body and your wallet.

Longtime listeners know that Clark despises the gift card market. The only exception to this rule is when you get more than what you pay for from a retailer or merchant. Examples of this include getting a $125 gift card for $100 or getting bonus services thrown in during the purchase. Business Week recently ran a story that reinforced why retailers push gift cards so hard. It's like stealing money without a gun; they know a large percent of the cards won't ever be redeemed. You may have heard that Home Depot holds more than $100 million in unredeemed gift cards. But now Business Week has discovered that Best Buy is sitting on a whopping $500 million in outstanding gift card revenue!

States are now wising up and enacting laws that require retailers to turn over unredeemed gift card money after a certain period of time. If people go to redeem the card, they'll have to get their money back from the state. Clark recently was in Austin, Texas, visiting his affiliate station KLBJ-AM. There he spoke to a member of the state legislature who told him Texas enacted its own law after hearing one of Clark's gift card rants. The worst kinds of gift cards are the ones issued by banks, which come with a ton of fees. The federal regulators have not put any rules on the banks as of yet. That alone tells you who they work for -- and it's not you and me.

Many people feel Clark doesn't give enough emphasis on his show to the environment. They say he's too concerned with one kind of green (money) and not the other sort. So here's a story for all those folks. Clorox is introducing a new line of products called Green Works. The Sierra Club will even be branding these products with its own seal of approval like Good Housekeeping! The San Francisco Chronicle reports that only 1.3 percent of our dollars spent on cleaning products go to green brands. But this will probably grow in the years to come as prices drop. Think about organic food. It grew from a niche market to a more mainstream one as price went down. Meanwhile, Clark's executive producer Christa suggests using white vinegar and water as a home-made green cleaning solution.

One of Clark's most recent polls was about coupons and how you get them. Clark is serious about the benefits of coupons and was surprised when the second most popular answer was that you don't use them. But the good news is that most people do use them, and the majority of you still get them the old-fashioned way through newspapers. The least popular method of getting them, according to the poll, was through your cell phone. You may recall that Clark recently talked about a company called CellFire.com that delivers coupons to your handset. Clark tried this service and it kept draining his battery, so he had to delete it. He also recently spoke to coupon guru Stephanie Nelson and she said she's a big fan of the color coupon inserts in the newspapers too. Clark really means it about coupons. He clips them and keeps them in his wallet for later use. While he's not coupon obsessed like some people, he thinks they can make a big difference in your life if your budget is pinched. You can save tax-free money by taking a few minutes to clip and organize them. It's so easy. Meanwhile, what would you do if you got $5,000 free and clear? That's the subject of another one of Clark's polls. Be sure to vote today!

The holiday shopping season was worse than expected by retail. Circuit City sales dropped 10 percent in December, and that's in the hot realm of electronics. The flip side to this story is that now there are great deals out there in the retail world. January is the sweetest month of the year to look for bargains. Clark was recently in a discount store when he saw bags of bows that were originally $2.99 marked down to 9 cents! So he bought 9 packs for 81 cents and now has 270 bows for years to come!

Clothing is one sector where you can find some real deals. Retailers are always looking 1 season ahead. Last week, Clark bought a lambskin leather jacket on clearance for $59. If he had bought it in the fall, it would have cost more than twice as much. So Clark's rule of thumb is to follow the calendar. On the first day of winter, winter clothing goes on clearance. On the first day of spring, spring clothes go on sale, etc. One caveat: Do not buy back-to-school clothes for your kids before they get back to school. The retailers try to trick you with non-sale sales in the weeks before September. Speaking of school, Clark once saw 20 pens for 20 cents after the kidlets returned. At a penny a pen, you better believe he stocked up!