(1,031): The One Thing Money CAN - and CANNOT - Buy
OK, everybody let’s take out our pencils or I-Pads, and make a tally of the things money definitely cannot buy. Without question, people of a certain age are likely to be influenced by the title of one of the earliest smash hits from the Lennon-McCartney songbook as their #1: Can’t Buy Me Love . . . although I have to believe that POTUS and FLOTUS as well as anyone named Kardashian would likely disagree.
Here’s the beginning of my list of things that money definitely cannot buy:
· Common Sense
· Emotional Mastery
· Empathy
· Good Manners
· Gratitude
· Happiness
· Honesty
· Inner Peace
· Loyalty
· Mechanical Aptitude
· Morality and Ethics, and
· Wisdom
If you have some doubts about any of the 13 characteristics -or qualities - which money cannot buy, consider some of the אנגעשטאפטע מענטשן (ongeshtafte mentshn - Yiddish for, roughly “hyper wealthy people”) who are members of Felon 47’s Cabinet and coterie of closest advisors and factota. They are, without question איבערגעשטאפט (literally “stuffed”) but most seem to lack - or demand - such qualities as good manners, honesty, empathy or common sense in either themselves or their spooky brigade. Most come across as Übermenschen (“supermen”); philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s superior people who think they are able to be their own determiners of value; people who sculpt their own characteristics and circumstances regardless of what anyone - save others like them -- think. Despite ITs having convinced tens of millions of American voters that he was a populist who would always stand foursquarely on the side of the working stiff, he turned out to be what he always has been; a cunning neurotic born with a silver spoon in his tiny hand and a necrotic foot in his godless mouth. Indeed, no sooner did he take his second Oath of Office than he reverted to type; an oligarch whose only passion is for enriching himself and his band of billionaires.
In the regime’s first 71 days, we’ve been witness to what an unelected, unvetted centibillionaire holding aloft a chainsaw in his hand and a brain boosted by Ketamine can do. As the titular head of DOGE, he and his band of twenty-something trolls have made deep cuts in various federal agencies. Seemingly, he and his co-president (IT) have been most obsessed with making their gravest, most lethal cuts (and worst appointments) in one major area: anything dealing with medicine, medical research and healthcare delivery (i.e. HHS, FDA, CDC, NIH, CMS and HRSA). In addition to slashing their budgets (which is the constitutionally-mandated purview of Congress, not the White House), the MUMP Regime has seen fit replace the outgoing heads of these agencies with people who - despite possessing degrees from elite universities) hold some of the most toxic opinions of what roles their agencies should not be playing in the names of health and wellbeing:
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (26th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services): the scion of one of America’s most famous political families, RFK, Jr. was originally known for being one of the most influential environmental lawyers in the country. Over the past many years, he has become known for being among the country’s most prominent vaccine skeptics and a world-class conspiracy theorist. As head of HHS he recently named David Geier (who is not an M.D.), a prominent 2nd generation anti-vaxxer, who has long supported the almost universally debunked "medical fact” that certain vaccines cause autism to conduct a study looking for such a link. Kennedy’s announcement was met with incredulity and dropping jaws by most of the medical community. Just the other day, Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine official, resigned under pressure. In announcing his resignation, Dr. Marks warned that under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership “It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”
Marty Makary, M.D., PhD (27th FDA Commissioner): a pancreatic cancer surgeon and health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Markary first came to the attention of ITs team when he was a Fox News personality and commentator on COVID back in 2021. At the time, he incorrectly predicted that the nation was “racing toward an extremely low level of infection.” Although not an anti-vaxxer, at his recent Senate confirmation hearing he expressed support for vaccines, even as he suggested that the F.D.A. needed to review the role of vaccine experts whom the agency turns to for advice.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., PhD (18th NIH Director): An Indian-born physician-scientist and health economist, he has spent the majority of his career in the latter field. In his Senate confirmation hearing he said that one of his main goals as NIH Director would be to prevent research grants being made to universities that fail to support academic freedom. He has also made it clear that he wants to take on campus culture at elite universities, wielding the power of tens of billions of dollars in scientific grants.
Tom Engels, B.A. (Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration: A career politician who started his public life as then-Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson’s Deputy Press Secretary, he worked his way up through the ranks as an administrator in both state and federal health-related positions. This is his second stint as HRSA administrator, having served in this position during the first IT administration. He oversees nearly 2,000 employees and an annual budget of $15.9 billion.
It goes without saying that major health agencies at both the federal and state level, as well as those who partake in the world of clinical trials (myself included) are in a growing blue funk. With so many people being “furloughed” (a politically correct way of saying “canned”, which leaves agencies grossly understaffed and deprived of both expertise and institutional memory, and so many billions upon billions of dollars being stripped from research into new drugs, medical devices and surgical procedures, things are looking pretty grim. It makes me wonder about these overstuffed oligarchs; don’t they realize that without robust medical research - especially at a time of lessening Medicare and Medicaid coverage - it isn’t only the poor who will suffer. No amount of personal wealth can buy a cure for what ails you if the research isn’t ongoing. Money can provide the fabulously wealthy with plane tickets and great accommodations in a foreign country where non-FDA approved medicines or surgical procedures can be gotten. But all the cuts in medical research being instituted by the MUMP Regime cannot purchase miracles.
Do the oligarchs and overstuffed wannabes really, truly think their extreme wealth can save them or their loved ones from a rare, catastrophic or orphan disease? Haven’t they thought it through? Or are they suffering from the Marie Antoinette syndrome (Qu’ls mangent de la brioche!”. . . Let them eat cake?) Peut-être . . . perhaps.
In the nearly 30 years I have been vetting and editing what are called “Informed Consent” documents (which must be made understandable by anyone who is going to participate in a clinical trial), I have seen tremendous progress in human healing. Among the most fascinating and promising are:
CAR T Cell (Chimeric antigen receptors) Therapy, which involves genetically engineering a patient’s own T cells (red) to attack cancer cells. Basically your T cells (which can be easily trained) are taught to treat a tumor as a mortal enemy, rather than a friend.
Monoclonal Antibodies (all those medicines end with the suffice “mab” such as Rituxumab [breast cancer], Aducanumab [Alzheimer’s disease] and Vedolizumab [Entyvio . . . for Crohn’s Disease]). mAbs are laboratory-produced proteins that mimic the body’s natural antibodies.
Biologics: medications that come from living organisms, like proteins and genes; one day they may treat previously untreatable conditions including cancers, genetic disorders and autoimmune diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus and Crohn’s Disease.
At its best, medicine and medical research are a fascinating admixture of art and science. To bring a new drug, medical device, or surgical procedure to market takes a lot of time, talent and patience . . . not to mention teamwork and money. Money can buy both healing and hope for the sick, the hurting and afflicted. That’s the good news. The bad news - for those seeking to slash research funding and medical care to the bone - is that no amount of hyper wealth can buy a potential cure that is no longer in the pipeline . . .
BTW: For all those who are anxious, nauseated and feeling helpless, might I suggest joining the National Day of Action this coming Saturday, April 5. On that day millions of people from every state in the union, marching under banners dealing with a multitude of issues and concerns, will gather and send a message to the Regime . . . In order to find out where the gathering will be in your community (and even in Canada), please go
Keep up the good trouble.
Copyright©2025 Kurt Franklin Stone