WalletPop

Similac's organic baby formula, which sells for as much as 30% more than the regular version, contains added cane sugar, according to an article in the New York Times.

Mothers who choose not to or can't breastfeed, may opt for the organic formula because they perceive it to be healthier. That may be true of other brands, but Similac's organic formula, which was launched in 2006 by Abbott Laboratories, is the only national brand with cane sugar. Sucrose sweetened formulas have been banned in Europe.

While there haven't been any reports of adverse health effects, pediatricians cautioned that the sweeter taste of the formula might make babies turn up their noses to other foods without as much sugar. Babies might also overeat because they like the taste so much, and it could harm their tooth enamel.

Not surprisingly, the news has rekindled the ongoing debate in the blogosphere over the breast versus bottle controversy. Given the choice between spending $30 for a 25-ounce can of sugar-laden Similac and free breastmilk, this round goes to the nursing moms.

Michele Turk is a journalist and author whose book, Blood, Sweat and Tears: An Oral History of the American Red Cross, was published in 2006. She recently founded e street press, a self-publishing company.

Have you ever wondered how smart your state is? If you look closely at the decisions made in your statehouse the evidence may be all too clear. But just in case your gut isn't good enough, now you can see how your state's IQ measures up to its neighbors. The data has been compiled from several sources, which appear to be more reputable than the online IQ tests you see taunting you in online ads. What can you do with this information you may ask? You can use the data to trash talk friends in other states or to plan your world domination plot.

A resourceful person could use the data to plot a move to a dumber state in order to have fewer qualified competitors for jobs. In reality this won't likely work out unless you plan to work in a field without a great future; but who knows, maybe you'll get lucky. From the reverse, you can move from a "dumb" state to a "smart" one to find a better state or local government which won't waste your tax dollars as much.

After I found this information I went searching for other data sets to try and find out if there were any correlation or coincidences between average IQ and the many other factors facing our nation. Sadly even after comparing state IQ scores with foreclosure rates, welfare distribution, number of payday lenders and number of McDonald restaurants, no correlation appeared. So much for linking the looming problems of our nation to low IQ scores using data found on the Internet.

I've been a health care wanderer, moving from doctor to doctor as my HMOs and personal taste dictate. Along the way, my medical records have ended up strewn through many different offices, and because I can't remember who did what to me and when, my current doc has to retread already trodden ground. This is the problem for which Google developed its now-available service, Google Health.

Google Health is an online site on which you can compile your medical history, so that in the future it is available when needed for continuity of care. The upside, obviously, is that in the case of a heart attack, no matter where you might be the medical staff can access your data and thereby provide the most appropriate care.

While this seems like a useful service, I wonder about the potential for its misuse. Google, in its waiver, states "I understand and agree that in addition to the information I choose to share, Google may only share information in the limited circumstances described in the Google Health Privacy Policy." Note this privacy is not guaranteed by law, but by the company's policy. Policies can change.

The more likely problem, though, will come when you authorize an entity, such as your doctor's office, to access your records. Who knows what employees might abuse that privilege? Also, if you have something in your records of interest to the law, this could be an easy way for them to access it.

For Google, and its competitors in this market, this program has great income potential, in directed advertising, referrals, and health care product sales offers. This is of such value that I don't believe getting it for free is enough; Google should pay me to use it, imho. I could use the money to pay my medical bills.

This post is part of our series ranking the top 25 bygone products and trends we'd like to see return.

The drive-in movie was born in the 1930s on a residential driveway in New Jersey, where Richard M. Hollingshead developed a workable combination of projection, screen, sound and vehicle position. The website www.driveintheater.com states that the very first drive-in theater opened on Tuesday, June 6, 1933, showing the movie "Wife Beware." By the end of the decade, 18 drive-in theaters were in operation in the U.S.. By 1958, nearly 5,000 drive-in theaters were in their twilight entertainment glory.

As a little kid, I saw my first movie on the big screen at the 41 Outdoor Theater on the outskirts of Appleton Wisconsin. It was there that I was introduced to the antics of Herbie in The Love Bug. I also thrilled to Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, and fell immediately in love with her. I watched Kurt Russel grow up under Disney's watchful gaze in movies such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. As I grew older, the outdoor still offered thrills such as Clint Eastwood's "B" westerns in the open air. Some of the first entries to the "slasher" genre also debuted on drive-in screens, including the first version of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (which far outclassed the recent remake of that film).

If I lived close enough to one of the few drive-in theaters still operating or a new one that has opened, I can assure you that I'd be attending it a few times a year. You see, although the viewing experience may be a bit shy of that which is offered in today's multiplexes, there's just something about sitting in the womb of your car with a big tub of popcorn and your best girl at hand that can't be achieved through any other means. In fact, it's my theory that the drive-in movie theaters were possibly the single largest contributor to the baby boom. Maybe you should find a drive-in theater near to you and see if my theory is right.

What coming of age joys would you like to see revived?

I wanted to spend my stimulus money (all $600 of it) on something foolish. I really did. But common sense usually wins in my house. So I promptly took my $600 and put it into my Scottrade account. I immediately invested the money in Chico's stock. Chico's is a women's clothing store that has been hit hard, like many retail stores have. Just under a year ago, the stock was at $27.70. Today it's been floating between $7.38 and $7.95 a share. Why did I invest in that stock? I'm not terribly scientific about it, but I do have a feeling that the company is strong enough to come back from the hard times.

So I bought the stock on May 14, and today I promptly sold it for a 5.8% gain. I know, I know. I only made just under $35 on the trade. But think of it this way: That's almost twice as much as I would have made putting the $600 into my savings account (which is currently paying 3%) and letting it sit there for a year. I made 5.8% in 5 days, and I don't think that's a bad deal.

And no, I'm not spending my $635. I've invested it in another stock and will hopefully turn a quick profit there too. I'm a complete amateur when it comes to the stock market, but I do alright and I have fun doing it. Give it a try... only $7 a trade with Scottrade.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

One of the building blocks of personal finance for me came from my early exposure to money management at home through earning an allowance. Deciding what method to use in order to give your children an allowance which both educates them and enables them to buy stuff for themselves can be complicated. The author of Fivecentnickel shares an intriguing method which he uses in his house of four. His system for allowances revolves around allocating the allowance to several locations such as spending, long term saving and charity.

They recently revamped the system moving to distributing the allowance once a month to ease the distribution between purposes and to re-enforce the need to budget to their kids. The allowance system they use bases the weekly amount on how old the kid is. Even though it isn't stated, I am going to assume that with age comes more responsibility. The kids can even get a dollar for dollar match by moving money from spending into their kiddie IRA.

Do you have an eco-conscience high school grad walking to pomp and circumstance this spring? Maybe a patchouli and Birkenstock loving college grad ready to wrestle corporate America for our nations future? What better way to show them your support and give them a graduation gift they will remember, than erasing the carbon footprint they have left over their short life. Worldchanging.com in coordination with TerraPass, a carbon offsetting company, have teamed up to offer a clean slate gift program in which a donor can buy the carbon offsets to essentially displace the carbon footprint for graduates from high school through working adults.

The program is not cheap, but if you want to make a difference going green this way is likely to make a bigger difference than a pack of CFL light bulbs for the graduates first apartment. To offset the carbon footprint of a high school graduate, $6,000 in offsets would need to be purchased. For a college graduate the cost would be $7,500 and for a working adult the price jumps up to $25,000! The prices are high but even if you can't afford to offset your favorite grad's carbon footprint for life you can purchase offsets in smaller amounts by donating to Terrapass in honor of the graduate.

A survey by the Society of Actuaries has found that older Americans are worried about money. No kidding? Of course they are! Thanks to the interest rate slashing by the Fed, retirees are earning almost no interest on their avings accounts and CDs. And those conservative savings options are a big part of the portfolios of many retirees.

In fact, a retiree's savings account isn't even growing fast enough to cover the rising costs of food and fuel. Add to that concerns like paying for long-term care and health care costs, and many older Americans are very afraid of what their financial futures hold.

And here's a statistic to keep in mind: A 65-year-old man is expected to live another 17 years and a 65-year-old woman is expected to live another 20 years. Americans are living longer and that means they need more money in savings if they're going to maintain their standard of living into their late years.

If prices continue to rise while earnings from savings continue to dwindle, older people will likely have to rely more on their families for support as they age. Get ready for mom and dad to move in with you if things don't turn around for older Americans. Yikes!

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Gartner, Inc. just came out with a study showing that 90% of business ventures into virtual worlds -- such as Second Life --fail with in 18 months. That means the get-rich-quick scheme of selling imaginary goods for imaginary Linden Dollars (L$) to convert back to real dollars (the current exchange rate is about $1 to 265 L$) may not work out so well after all.

As if regular business stories weren't tedious enough, the media love to cover stories about business in the fake world. American Apparel and Armani have Second Life stores. Someone set up a fake Apple store--one that seems to be missing its characteristic long lines of disillusioned Apple acolytes at the genius bar. The government of Sweden is one of many countries with an embassy. (I wonder if that's the kind of lame perk that could be offered to all the e-volunteers in this presidential election.) eHow has a how to primer on how to start your business in the other world. And, of course, Second Life encourages that kind of entrepreneurship.

According to Gartner, the enterprises usually fail because companies did them just to be cool. And they never figured out what the objective was supposed to be. How do they know they're failures then? My guess is the old-fashioned real world method: they lost money. Gartner says it takes $5,000 to $50,000 (L$1.3 to L$13 million) to set up a Second Life store. That's a whole lot of avatar clothes to sell.

Why do you need a home inspection before you purchase a house? The people selling your home seem trustworthy, all of the outlets work, it doesn't seem like there are termites eating away at your staircase. Do you really need to spend the extra money? After looking through a few slides of This Old House's "Home Inspection Nightmare" you'll be running to find a home inspector, even if you already own your house!

The nightmares come in from homes throughout the U.S. via certified home inspectors who report back on the audacities they find left in the wake of lazy contractors and inept "DIY-ers" in the basements and crawlspaces of homes just like yours!

Seriously though, if you don't already feel the need to have a home inspector check out your future residence and if your bank doesn't require it, maybe these images of lunch-pail junction boxes and support beams made out of 2x4 piles will change your mind.

Have you run into any home inspection nightmares of your own? Do any of your attempts at fixing up your home qualify for the next slideshow?

Looking down the barrel at a costly college education, many students might want to ask what, exactly, they are getting for their money. After all, even the cheapest state schools run a few thousand dollars per year, and pricey private colleges top out at more than $30 grand. Add in room and board, and you're talking about $40,000+ for a single year of school. Multiply that over 4-5 years, throw in a few thousand for a semester overseas, and the price of an education moves into the Rolls Royce range.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the purpose of a college education; as I mentioned then, the most important skill that college can develop is the ability to think critically. Since I've been out of the academy, I've talked to a large number of people who are working (and hiring other workers) in the "real world." I've repeatedly heard that companies want their college-educated employees to be able to think independently, to be able to come to their own conclusions, and to be capable of understanding the consequences of a course of action. In other words, they want employees who are able to think critically. Unfortunately, however, this highly-important skill is in incredibly short supply.

There are a lot of reasons that students aren't being taught to be critical and independent thinkers. First off, it's a very hard thing to teach, and many professors aren't up to the challenge. Also, the hierarchical nature of the classroom makes it difficult to create free thinkers. Most importantly, though, universities have increasingly become bastions of dogma, the sworn enemy of free thought. In other words, rather than learn to evaluate the truth and value of a perspective, students are being inundated with the unevaluated and untested prejudices of their professors.

This post is part of our series ranking the top 25 bygone products and trends we'd like to see return.

A friend from Minnesota claims that among his state's peculiar distinguishing characteristics is that green Jello is classified as a salad. I had to admit that, in my childhood, I'd been similarly mystified. At church buffets, I'd eyed with suspicion the ring of shimmering emerald translucence surrounding, of all things, mayonnaise.

For years, I couldn't bring myself to take a scoop of this then common side dish, in which cucumbers, celery and carrots float in a horseradish-tainted green gelatin, much less garnish it with a dollop of Hellman's or Miracle Whip. But finally, probably under the watchful eyes of some relative who took great pride in her creation, I gave it a try.

To my surprise; I liked it. And just as quickly, it disappeared from the buffet tables. Like bell bottoms and madras plaid, the Jello salad had suddenly been declared passe, replaced with ethnic dishes or nouveau veggies like the jicama. My grandmother would have taken one bite of a jicama and declared it two hours of boiling short of edible. She, and those of her generation, were firm believers in soft food.

And there's nothing softer than Jello.

What buffet treats do you miss?

While the sagging finances of cash-strapped Americans have left a lot of people unhappy, you'll be happy to know that repo men are doing quite well.

According to the New York Times, the yuppification -- I mean upward mobility -- of the early 2000s led a lot of people to buy boats they couldn't really afford. Now that the fantasy world of ever-rising real estate prices is over and homes no longer serve as ATMs, many boat loans are in default. And that's where retired Army detective Jeff Henderson comes in. He'll track down the boat and repossess it in the middle of the night if necessary. He says business has never been better.

Perhaps this would be a great line of work for recently unemployed subprime mortgage brokers. They earned huge commissions lending people money they couldn't afford to repay and it seems only fitting that they should profit on the way down as well.

But bad lending standards and practices aside, stories about the rise in boat repossessions provide a very unflattering image of the economic troubles facing many Americans: people were incredibly stupid and greedy, overextending themselves to keep up with their neighbors' conspicuous consumption. Let's face it: if you take a loan to buy a boat, there's a really good chance you're an idiot.

I wonder how many of these boat owners would benefit at the expense of more responsible taxpayers from the housing bill that the Senate recently proposed.

I've said it before (more than once, actually), and it appears I'm going to have to say it again. If money that's not yours appears in your bank account, do not spend it. I know it's not yours. You know it's not yours. And it's only a matter of time before the bank finally admits it's not yours. But it's apparently too easy to pretend you've won the lottery or some secret person has given you a large gift, right? Well, Herbert Starbird and his wife found out the hard way that they shouldn't spend money that didn't belong to them.

Their bank account showed a deposit of $280,277 in October. Herbert knew he didn't deposit that money and that it didn't belong to him . He says he called the bank several times and was told that the deposit was accurate. So Herbert and his wife promptly began spending the money, and then the bank said the deposit was a mistake. (Duh!) The bank tried to take the money back, but over $157,000 of it was already spent. The bank says that Herbert never brought the error to the bank's attention. They're suing the Starbirds to get the money back.

Sorry, but mistake or no mistake, the Starbirds should not have spent that money. They should have tried harder to give it back to the bank, because they knew it was not theirs. Spending it was just plain wrong -- and stupid.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Every day, WalletPop will be bringing you information about a fantastic freebie. Like what you see? Check back tomorrow for more!

Wal-Mart might not seem like the best place to find out about hot new music. Actually, if you're of the indie-rock school of thought, it's probably by far the worst place to discover new artists.

But if you're more commercially-minded, Wal-Mart has a new site that will be updated every week, offering a new song. According to Wal-Mart:

Build your playlists without breaking the bank. With a new free song every week, you'll have plenty of opportunity to explore the latest bands, reconnect with some old favorites and expand your collection - without investing a cent.

The first song is "Libertad" by an outfit calling itself "pacifika." Check out their MySpace here. Kind of a cool sound actually.