My CS hot take is that the staff can't do anything about the CS economy unless the community chooses to put in the work required to maintain that change. IE, stop overpay culture. The reason why it is so bad now is because of everyone overpaying and overcharging for the new pets, which (based on how I am understanding it) is not a bannable/warnable offense if both parties are aware they are overpaying (even if it is scam). If people stop overpaying for things the prices won't inflate even if there is tons of demand. But people who don't like overpaying do it anyway while still expecting staff to magically change the economy as though they weren't feeding the inflation (no one person should take the fall for this BTW). The CS economy is made by the community, so I think it should fixed by the community as well. It just isn't fair to staff to deal with that pressure while the community makes things worse by every month that passes.
Another hot take: Just because a pet is a less popular species doesn't mean should be devalued. If you want old, rare pets then you should pay the price instead of demanding that their owners lower their prices because they aren't "popular enough" for you. The rats, ponies, etc, should be just as valuable and pized as the other pets of their rarity. It isn't fair to players who want to trade what they have to just to be told they need to settle just because others consider them "second-rate trade fodder".
*Edit* I'm not sure this is a hot take but players shouldn't be super rude in their trade rules, nothing rubs me the wrong way more than when I'm looking for swaps for monthlies, then clicking on someone's profile and seeing a nightmare list of rules and threats to block people. It makes sending basic swaps very tense and stressful. When I joined and made my first post in the introductory forum I remember a staff member telling me "everyone here is super friendly - hopefully you feel welcome..." but some of these people's trade rules make me scared of making them angry. I don't like upsetting others especially if it seems as though they would blow up at me. Sometimes the community feels very unfriendly. It reminds me a lot of pixel pets and how aggressive people on there would get with their trade rules.
Sorry, if anything here sounds a little rude/off/confusing, I sometimes have a hard time telling the tone of my writing. Also if it seems like words are missing, please tell me so that I can review that part because sometimes I do drop words from sentences by mistake