Bucks and dogs.

Bloomberg Opinion got a world of heat earlier this month for publishing helpful tips for peasants trying to deal with inflation while making under $300,000 per year. Writer Teresa Ghilarducci, an economics professor at a so-called college called the New School of Social Research (most New Yorkers know what a joke that place is), had a whole heap o' tips for us plain folks out here in trailer park America, such as eating lentils instead of meat and selling our cars to take public transportation. 

The incredible shrinking
dead presidents

A lot of people among the 99% of Americans who make less than $300K seemed to take issue with the statement, including myself. We're complaining not just because of the pain we feel now, not just because we watch whatever money we may have saved become less valuable by the day, but also because we know this inflationary trend was entirely avoidable by the government not making all the hubristic blunders it has made since 2019. So being lectured by the kind of people who made the errors is kind of off-putting.

Many plain folk know just fine how to deal with inflation. Hunt your own meat. Don't buy scallops. Skip the brand-name goods for store-brand items. Don't go out to the movies or to pro sports. Don't go on Disney vacations of any kind. Make jokes to keep your spirits up. And vote against the morons of our terrible upper class who put us in this predicament.

One stupid statement among several made by the "professor" is this: 

If you’re one of the many Americans who became a new pet owner during the pandemic, you might want to rethink those costly pet medical needs. It may sound harsh, but researchers actually don’t recommend pet chemotherapy — which can cost up to $10,000 — for ethical reasons.

I searched for le mot juste to describe this and finally found it: Bullshit. I do not believe that veterinarians don't recommend pet chemotherapy, and I don't know what "researchers" she's referring to. Medical scientists? Animal activists? Economists? Vegans? Who the hell is she talking about? Certainly any decent vet will tell a pet owner if chemo is a lost cause and is just worsening or prolonging the pet's agony. That's what they did for our Nipper, and we let him go.

But Tralfaz is a totally different story. When he turned out to have cancerous lumps, including one that occluded his eye, we were advised to try lomustine for six months. One dose per month. Cost: $125 a month. An expense that might be tough for some households, no question, but not a deal-breaker by any means. Moreover, he has responded magnificently to the drug. The lumps are gone, including the one that occluded his eye, and he's doing fantastic. I had prayed he could get one more good winter with us, his favorite season, and he did, and he's still going strong. Moreover, he has had no side effects that I can tell. Not even an upset stomach. The worst part was just getting him to swallow the pills whole.

Had we listened to Dr. Asshat and her "researchers," I am certain we would have saved a few hundred bucks and Fazzy would be dead by now. 

Now, pardon me, because I'm going to go take both of my happy, healthy dogs out for a nice, long walk. 

P.S.: Undergraduate tuition and fees for a year at the New School is $73,376. I have a great idea to help the students there save money....