Best Buy, like many other stores, has a public "price matching" policy. But HD Guru reports that according to internal docs, personnel are trained to deny price-matches and even paid bonuses for shutting them down.

This all comes out of a lawsuit that was just granted class action status. Internal documents, plus depositions from past and current Best Buy employees reveal just how evil Best Buy is. A price match is when, say, Circuit City advertised a Sharp HDTV for cheaper than Best Buy, Best Buy's public policy is to match that price.

But Best Buy actually trains employees in New York how to deny legitimate price match requests, and the average Best Buy store denies 100 price matches a week. You even get paid bonuses based on how many price matches you deny!

Here's how it works, according to Phil Britton, a member of Best Buy's Competitive Strategies Group:

What is the first thing we do when a customer comes in to our humble box brandishing a competitor's ad asking for a price match? We attempt to build a case against the price match. (Trust me, I've done it too). Let's walk through the "Refused Price Match Greatest Hits:

"Not same model? Not in stock at the competitor? Do we have free widget with purchase? Is it from a warehouse club (they have membership fees, you know)? Limited Quantities? That competitor is across town? We've got financing! Is it an internet price? It's below cost!….."

If you live in NY state, and you've been screwed by Best Buy's anti-price matching, HD Guru has further info on the attorney to contact so you can take a piece out of Best Buy. What a bunch of scum.

Update: Giz reader Jake reveals how they scam you on model numbers to avoid price matching:

Example: A few months ago my wife and I were looking at a Frigidaire Washer. The model we were interested was the ATF8000FS. At Best Buy, we found the washer there however it was displayed as the ATF8000FSL. At first I figured "Oh this must be some variation on the original model number, like how manufacturers sometimes add a letter to the end of the model to indicate the product color." Anyways, to make a long story short, this ATF8000FSL was not available from the manufacturer.

The "L" was added on by Best Buy in order for them to skirt around price matching. This is so no one can come to Best Buy and claim to have found a lower price of this product because no one else sells the product under the model number ATF8000FSL. It's ATF8000FS everywhere else. Best Buy will tell people that its simply a different product, so therefore, no price matching. Even on the manufacturer's sticker on the washer, it said ATF8000FS, as it was supposed to. Upon further investigation I could see that Best Buy's internal computers even listed the model as ATF8000FSL.

Apple Inc. is cutting the price of some songs in its market-leading iTunes online store to as little as 69 cents and plans to make every track available without copy protection.

In Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people )'s final appearance at the Macworld trade show, Apple's top marketing executive, Philip Schiller, said Tuesday that iTunes song prices will come in three tiers: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29. Record companies will choose the prices, which marks a significant change, since Apple previously made all songs sell for 99 cents.

Apple gave the record labels that flexibility on pricing as it got them to agree to sell all songs free of "digital rights management," or DRM, technology that limits people's ability to copy songs or move them to multiple computers. Apple had been offering a limited selection of songs without DRM, but by the end of this quarter, the company said, all 10 million songs in its library will be available that way.

While iTunes is the most popular digital music store, others have been faster to offer more songs without copy protection. Amazon.com Inc. (nasdaq: AMZN - news - people ) started selling DRM-free music downloads in 2007 and swayed all the major labels to sign on in less than a year.

Schiller also announced that iPhone 3G users will be able to buy songs from the iTunes store using the cellular data network. Previously, iPhone users could shop for tunes when connected to a Wi-Fi hot spot.

The iTunes changes marked the highlights of Schiller's run as a stand-in for CEO Steve Jobs, who used to make Macworld the site for some of Apple's biggest product unveilings, such as the iPhone. Apple said last month that Jobs would not address the throngs this time because the company plans to pull out of Macworld next year.

Apple shares slipped $1.18, 1.3 percent, to $93.40 in afternoon trading.

Schiller got a warm welcome from the attendees - who packed the convention hall despite the pall cast over the industry by the economic downturn - especially at the start of his talk, when he thanked them for showing up despite Jobs' notable absence. He ran seamlessly through his 90-minute presentation, getting applause and oohs from the audience, varying little from the format of slides and demos established by Jobs. And like Jobs, he gushed about Apple's products being the best in the world.

Crude prices rose above $40 a barrel Monday as Israel and Palestinian militants exchanged rocket fire and the death toll mounted in the oil-rich region.

Light trading contributed to market volatility in the final days of 2008, with price swings of close to $5 a barrel.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $2.31 cents to settle at $40.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the first time crude has ended the day above $40 in a week. Nymex will be closed Thursday for the New Year's Day holiday.

Retail gasoline prices in the U.S. continued to fall and neared $1.60 per gallon nationally Monday.

In the Middle East, Israel destroyed symbols of Hamas power on the third day of what the defense minister described Monday as a "war to the bitter end." The three-day death toll rose to at least 364 on Monday, with some 1,400 reported wounded. Israel launched its campaign, the deadliest against Palestinians in decades, on Saturday in retaliation for rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns.

Israel obliterated symbols of Hamas power, with missiles striking next to the Hamas premier's home, and devastating a security compound and a university building.

Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago, called oil's initial run-up "an emotional reaction to what was going on in Israel," and said similar, short-lived spikes have occurred during other clashes in the region.

"In reality, the likelihood the conflict is going to interrupt oil supply in any way, shape or form is highly unlikely," Flynn said. "Obviously, if the conflict widens, and other countries get involved directly, you might have a different situation."

There were also hints from China the government could go on a crude-buying spree to take advantage of prices below $40 a barrel. A senior government official writing in the People's Daily said China wants to increase its oil reserves to cushion supply shocks that it believes are inevitable.

China is encouraging companies to use all spare petroleum storage capacity to take advantage of the current low prices, the official said.

Asia's biggest refiner, the state-owned China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., recently completed construction of its largest storage project, a 38-tank facility with a total capacity of 32.4 million barrels.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which accounts for about 40 percent of global supply, has announced crude production cuts totaling more than 4 million barrels per day as it tries to stop the decline in prices. OPEC members, however, have a history of ignoring announced quotas and crude traders are looking for evidence the 13-nation group is tightening the spigot.

In Vienna, JBC Energy, in its daily newsletter, said "the UAE has decided to reduce crude supplies in January and February in line with the OPEC production cuts." The United Arab Emirates are the fourth-largest producers in the 13-nation cartel.

Analysts at the U.S. firm Cameron Hanover noted Monday the UAE, unlike a number of other OPEC members, typically abides by planned cuts. "If OPEC countries actually cut all of the output they have agreed to cut, global supplies of crude will be tighter come spring," Cameron Hanover said.

Oil prices have fallen 73 percent since peaking at $147.27 a barrel on July 11 as a credit crisis in the U.S. sparked a steep drop-off in consumer demand and corporate earnings. Analysts expect more dismal economic news from the fourth quarter over the next few weeks.

"More bad profit reports, jobs reports, housing results will put pressure on prices," said Gerard Rigby, energy analyst with Fuel First Consulting in Sydney. "Once Obama comes in, that might start changing sentiment and generate more optimism." Barack Obama is scheduled to be sworn in as U.S. president Jan. 20.

Tumbling crude prices have led to enormous declines in the price of retail gasoline.

At the pump, retail gas prices fell eight-tenths of a penny overnight to a new national average of $1.619 a gallon Monday, well below the year-ago average of $3.039 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

A Shell station in suburban Houston was selling regular unleaded for $1.19 a gallon on Monday.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures rose 3 cents to settle at 87.45 cents a gallon. Heating oil rose 4 cents to settle at $1.2853 a gallon, while natural gas for January delivery jumped 31 cents to settled at $6.136 per 1,000 cubic feet, well above the technically important $6 level.

In London, February Brent crude rose $2.18 to settle at $40.55 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this article.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Oil prices rose sharply toward $50 a barrel Monday as investors anticipated OPEC will announce a large production cut at its meeting this week.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery was up $3.24 to $49.52 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by mid-afternoon in Europe. The contract briefly reached $50.05 before falling back. On Friday, it fell $1.70 to settle at $46.28.

In London, January Brent crude gained $3.40 to $49.81 on the ICE Futures exchange.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which accounts for 40 percent of global supply, has signaled it plans to announce a substantial reduction of output quotas at its meeting Wednesday in Algeria.

"The extent of such cuts is still unclear and this uncertainty has been a source of continuing volatility in futures markets," said a report by analysts at KBC Market Services in Great Britain.

Kuwaiti oil minister Mohammed al-Eleim said Monday that OPEC was "undoubtedly inclined" to cut production. But he added that any decision would balance the need for a cut with its impact on the ailing world economy and producer nations' need for revenue to fund development projects.

Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari was quoted Sunday on his ministry's Web site saying that Iran would push for a production cut of 1.5 to 2 million barrels per day.

The average price of U.S. gasoline fell 22 cents a gallon during the past two weeks, bringing it to its lowest level in nearly five years, according to a national survey released Sunday.

The average price of regular gasoline Friday was $1.75 a gallon, oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said. The price of mid-grade was $1.90 a gallon and the price of premium was $2.02 a gallon.

The last time gas was cheaper was on March 2004, Lundberg said, when the national average for regular was $1.74 a gallon. The all-time high was on July 11, 2008, when the price peaked at $4.11 a gallon.

Of cities surveyed, the nation's lowest price was $1.46 in Cheyenne, Wyo. The highest was $2.54 in Anchorage, Alaska, and the highest in the continental United States was $2.10 on New York's Long Island.

What Would Keynes Do?

The government should spend on stuff, not on bad assets.

Every day that goes by makes clearer the parallels between the current financial crisis and the one that led to the Great Depression. Then, as now, the core problem was one of deflation, or falling prices. But fixing it will require more than just low interest rates. This was the key insight of British economist John Maynard Keynes, whose theories finally explained how to end the Great Depression. They may be the key to solving today's crisis as well.

The Great Depression was so deep and prolonged for many reasons. Herbert Hoover stupidly signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, which crippled international trade and finance, and imposed one of the largest tax increases in American history in 1932, which was exactly the wrong medicine at the wrong time. Franklin D. Roosevelt at least understood that deflation was at the root of the problem, but he thought artificially raising the price of gold and preventing businesses from cutting prices and wages by law was the solution. In fact, it prevented the economy from adjusting, which made the situation worse.

What few people understood at the time was that the Federal Reserve was primarily responsible for the deflation and the only institution that could have done anything about it. As we now know, the Fed's tight monetary policy brought on a financial crisis that began with the stock market crash in 1929. Smoot-Hawley was also a factor, but it wouldn't have been capable of inducing such a crisis if Fed policy hadn't already put financial markets in a fragile condition.

In its initial stages, the Fed might have been able to prevent a full-blown depression by being a lender of last resort. It should have been aggressive about buying every financial asset it could lay its hands on and created as much money as necessary to do so. But it didn't. Instead, it was passive and, as the value of financial assets collapsed, banks closed and vast amounts of wealth simply vanished.

The money simply disappeared, because there was no federal deposit insurance in those days. According to research by economists Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, the nation's money supply fell by one-third between 1929 and 1933, which induced a 25% fall in price levels over that period.

As prices fell, businesses were forced to sell goods for less than they cost to produce. They couldn't cut costs easily because that meant reducing wages, which workers naturally resisted. Layoffs were the only way to cut costs, but this meant workers didn't have any income with which to buy goods, since there was no unemployment compensation either. This created a downward spiral that proved very difficult to stop.

The decline in wealth also reduced spending, and the fall in prices had the effect of magnifying debts. Debtors were forced to repay loans in dollars worth 25% more than those they borrowed in the first place. Farmers, who are perpetually in debt, were especially hard hit. In effect, if they took out loans that were worth X number of bushels of wheat and were forced to repay them with the same number bushels, they needed 25% more bushels to repay.

Saudi Arabia may think that $75 per barrel is a "fair price" for crude, but oil futures slipped further away from that target on Monday as bearish investors saw little hope of demand recovery, despite promises of a production cut from the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries in December.

Oil futures dropped to $52.10 per barrel, from $54.43, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude fell more than a dollar to $50.58 per barrel in London. Shares of BP (nyse: BP - news - people ) fell 1.6% in London, with Royal Dutch Shell (nyse: RDSA - news - people ) down 1.9%.

Oil-exporting cartel OPEC made no changes to its production quotas at an informal meeting in Cairo over the weekend--as expected--and an almost-certain cut later in December is not bringing any sense of confidence back to the energy markets.

OPEC is, to a large extent, a victim of bearish market sentiment rather than its own quotas. It is difficult to see how frantic cutting would help the cartel, given that it needs to make sure its already-wavering credibility does not suffer in an environment of falling prices. The 13-member outfit has only just pushed through a cut of 1.5 million barrels, announced in October, which needs to be proven right rather than immediately increased.

"OPEC has done all it could do," said Catherine Hunter, an analyst with IHS Global Insight. She told Forbes.com it was "just too early" to announce a cut over the weekend, so soon after last month's 1.5 million-barrel cut, and that the cartel's meeting in Algeria in December would be a much better time to unveil a cut of between 1.0 and 2.0 million barrels. (See "OPEC's Prelude To A Cut.")

Khelil told reporters in Cairo on Saturday that last month's announced cut was being implemented, according to "preliminary industry indications," and that OPEC member countries were clearly sticking to their promises. Mounting a unified front is crucial for OPEC in the current climate, with skeptics doubting the ability of countries like Iran and Venezuela to sacrifice valuable oil revenues for the greater good.

But the mooted target of $75 per barrel, described as a "fair price" by Saudi King Abdullah in an interview with a Kuwaiti newspaper, still seems elusive. The global slump has even taken the wind out of commodity-hungry China, which the World Bank expects to grow at an 18-year low of 7.5% next year.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The home price plunge stayed on a record pace this summer, according to a widely watched gauge of national real estate markets released Tuesday.

The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price national index recorded a 16.6% decline in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago. That eclipsed the previous record of 15.1% set during the second quarter.

Prices in Case-Shiller's separate index of 10 major cities fell a record 18.6%, while its 20-city index dropped a record 17.4%.

With foreclosures soaring at record rates, the economic picture dimming and job losses ramping up, all the elements were in place to push prices lower.

"The turmoil in the financial markets is placing further downward pressure on a housing market already weakened by its own fundamentals." said David Blitzer, Standard & Poor's spokesman for the indexes, in a press release. "All three aggregate indices and 13 of the 20 metro areas are reporting new record rates of decline. . . . Prices are back to where they were in early 2004."

The 10-city index is now 23.4% off its peak price, which came in June 2006; the 20-city index is down 21.8% from its July 2006 high and the national index has fallen 21% since the third quarter of 2006.

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Home prices in the 10-city index have fallen for 26 consecutive months. The decline has broadened over the past 12 months, with prices dropping in every city of the 20-city index during September.

In the weakest market, Phoenix, the 12-month loss came to 31.9%. Las Vegas prices plummeted 31.3% and San Francisco recorded a 29.5% decline. The best performing markets, Dallas and Charlotte, N.C., still posted drops - 2.7% in Dallas and 3.5% in Charlotte.

With San Francisco and Las Vegas, the other members of the 10-city index are: Miami, down 28.4% year-over-year; Los Angeles, down 27.6%; San Diego, down 26.3%; Washington, down 17%; Chicago, down 10.1%; New York, down 7.3%; Boston, down 5.7%; and Denver, down 5.4%.

In addition to Phoenix, Dallas, Charlotte and the cities in the 10-city index, the 20-city index is made up of: Detroit, down 18.6%; Tampa, Fla., down 18.5%; Minneapolis, down 14%; Seattle, down 9.8%; Atlanta, down 9.5%; Portland, Ore., down 8.6%; and Cleveland, down 6.4%.

Foreclosures continue to take a heavy toll, with sales in some cities dominated by properties repossessed by banks and then put back on the market, often at bargain prices. In Las Vegas and Cleveland, for example, about half of all homes for sale are bank-owned properties, according to the real estate Web site, Trulia.com.

"Foreclosures are clearly a part of the market now," said Blitzer.

He added that the national index price trends tend to be more moderate because they encompass many more exurban and rural areas, where, in many cases, home prices never skyrocketed as they did in some of the hotter, urban markets.

Karl Case, the Wellesley economics professor who is the Case in Case-Shiller, said during a news conference about the latest index report that he would hesitate to put a number on how much further prices could fall, but the increasing job losses will surely worsen the situation.

"There's no cushion against unemployment," he said.

And Pat Newport, an economist with Global Insight, pointed out that the latest numbers don't even capture the impact of some of the events of the past couple of months.

"The real economy took a sharp turn for the worse towards the end of the third quarter," he said. "Since then, housing permits are down, the National Association of Home Builders index of activity dropped to a record low in November and purchase loan applications were down 15%. That's telling us the housing market has worsened a lot."

Add to that a jumping unemployment rate and more bank woes and it adds up to lousy home price numbers for months to come, according to Newport.

"As bad as the latest Case-Shiller numbers appear to be, they are bound to get a lot worse," he said.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said oil prices needed to return to $75 to keep the more expensive new projects at the margins of world supply on track. His comments may come as a relief to consumer nations fearful of a return to $100-plus oil. U.S. crude <CLc1> was valued at $55 at the close of trade on Friday.

"There is a good logic for $75 a barrel," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, OPEC's most influential voice, told reporters in Cairo, where the producer cartel was meeting. [ID:nLT557953]

"You know why? Because I believe $75 is the price for the marginal producer. If the world needs supply from all sources, we need to protect the price for them. I think $75 is a fair price," he said.

Saudi King Abdullah announced $75 as a fair price in an interview with Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah.

Naimi's comments stopped far short of suggesting OPEC adopt a new formal price target to guide policy. But the unexpected break from his customary refusal to cite any sort of preferred price will give markets a new reference point when world oil demand recovers from the current recessionary slump.