Understanding Negative Externalities

Negative externalities are costs borne by individuals or society who didn’t choose to incur them. Think of a coal plant: while it generates electricity and economic value, it also creates pollution that affects everyone nearby. The family living next door faces increased health risks and medical expenses—costs they didn’t agree to bear. When their medical bills drive up healthcare premiums for everyone, the negative impact ripples throughout society.

The Government’s Role: Referee of the Economic Game

Imagine the U.S. economy as a sports field, with individuals and organizations as players. In this analogy, the government should serve as the referee, ensuring a level playing field and fair rule enforcement. Currently, our government often falls short of this crucial role, particularly in addressing negative externalities.

The problem? Our system tends to prioritize short-term profits over long-term sustainability and quality of life. While individual players (businesses and consumers) naturally focus on their immediate interests, the government must consider the broader, long-term implications. Without proper oversight, one player’s actions can compromise the entire game.

The Power of Smart Taxation

The solution is surprisingly straightforward: tax negative externalities at their true cost to society. This means calculating both short and long-term impacts on all stakeholders and incorporating them into the price of goods and services. For instance, if gasoline prices reflected their full environmental and social costs, they would be significantly higher—but this isn’t about punishing consumers.

When we properly price negative externalities, three powerful things happen:

1. Innovation Accelerates: Higher costs for harmful activities drive investment in cleaner alternatives. When polluting becomes expensive, clean technology becomes more competitive.
2. Behavior Changes Naturally: As prices better reflect true costs, individuals and businesses naturally shift toward more sustainable choices—without requiring complex regulations.
3. Market Forces Align with Social Good: By incorporating external costs into prices, we harness the efficiency of markets to solve social problems rather than create them.

Beyond Traditional Economics

Unfortunately, much of today’s economic practice has strayed from these fundamental principles. The gap between textbook economics and real-world application often stems from government failure to fulfill its referee role. But there’s hope: by returning to these core concepts and properly pricing negative externalities, we can create a more sustainable and equitable economy.

Consider climate change: by implementing carbon pricing that reflects the true cost of emissions, we could accelerate the transition to renewable energy while driving innovation in clean technology. Similar approaches could address issues from water pollution to plastic waste.

The Path Forward

Creating a sustainable future doesn’t require abandoning capitalism or free markets. Instead, it demands we use economic principles more effectively. By properly accounting for negative externalities through smart taxation and regulation, we can create a system where:

• Market prices reflect true costs to society
• Innovation focuses on solving rather than creating problems
• Long-term sustainability aligns with short-term profit motives
• Economic growth supports rather than undermines quality of life

The blueprint exists—we just need the political will to implement it. By understanding and applying these fundamental economic principles, we can build an economy that works better for everyone, including future generations.

Conclusion

Economics isn’t just about money or markets—it’s about managing resources efficiently for the benefit of all. When we properly account for negative externalities and empower government to act as an effective referee, we can harness the power of markets to create a more sustainable and prosperous future. The tools are there; it’s time we used them.

Sometimes we really do stumble upon a better system without realizing it. Rather than being silly, the no-fare above ground policy was a brilliant way to encourage usage and make boarding as easy and quick as possible. We should return to a no-fare policy but extend it to the entirety of the MBTA system!

Remove fares without costing the MBTA a penny!

In 2017, the MBTA reported fare revenue totaling $659 million. The census recorded the Mass population as 6,859,819 with 67.4% of the population in the workforce. That comes to about 4,623,518 people. Now, far as I can tell, figuring out the number of taxpayers isn’t an exact science. If you have better sources please do let me know! The range of people who actually have a tax liability seems to range from 25% to 47%. Let’s be extremely conservative and consider that Massachusetts has only one million tax payers.

If we charged everyone in the top million income earners a $659 yearly tax we could replace revenue collected from fares.

For comparison, a year of Linkpass is $1080. Meaning if any of those million people buy a monthly Link Pass year-round they’re now saving money. Commuter rail pass buyers in the top million come out like bandits, saving potentially thousands of dollars.

But we’re ignoring tons of positive impacts from a fare-free system, not just on the bottom line but performance and efficiency system-wide. Not to mention environmental impacts if a fare-free system encourages car drivers to take the T instead.

Most critically, we’re ignoring immediate and long-term cost savings from not paying for the infrastructure and labor needed to collect fairs. Capital costs go down, including no longer needing the nearly billion dollars AFC 2.0 project.

Things we no longer need to pay for without fares:

• Fare machines
• Fare machine maintenance
• Protected exits
• Cash accounting & protection
• Fare enforcement
• Fare machine attendants at tourist heavy stations
• AFC 2.0
• Fuel/energy/time spent waiting for payment on buses/green line

But the biggest savings comes from staff across the entire MBTA no longer need to spend time assisting commuters with broken machines, directing them on how to purchase fares, considering how to implement fair gates at new stations/on new vehicles, no longer needing to account for the impact of fair gates on boarding time and able to focus on the MBTA’s primary goal of moving people across the state as best as physically possible.

Every second and penny spent on collecting fares is a waste of time and money for every tax paying member of the commonwealth.

We now have 2,311,759 taxpayers living in Massachusetts. If we decided to remove fares from the MBTA and replace every penny of fare revenue with a tax, we would need to tax every taxpayer in Massachusetts $285.07 in 2018 in order to equal the revenue generated from fares last year by the MBTA.

In other words, if we taxed every taxpayer in Massachusetts an additional $286 we could stop collecting fares across the entire MBTA without cutting the MBTA budget one penny!

I’m not sure, but am very sure that we can do better. Much better. The MBTA is the lifeblood of the City of Boston and beyond. A core problem is that we have leaders who commute by car and can only guess at the facts on the ground of the T. That is not me. I’ve logged thousands of hours riding the MBTA.

I’ve stood crunched in on rush hour trains, thankful that a train finally arrived that actually had a smidge of space for me to jam into.

I’ve walked home because the T has been decimated by one event or another making walking the only feasible commuting method.

I’ve sat on too many buses and green line trains witnessing pedestrians skyrocketing past us. And I’ve made way too many trips into the center of Boston just to go back out when all I really wanted to do is go across the city.

That is why I’m running for governor of Massachusetts with only one singular campaign platform:

FIX THE MBTA!

The problems with the T are numerous but none of them are unsolvable. All that is required is some hard work and political courage to fix, maintain and improve the system so many of us rely on. I view fixing the MBTA and expanding it as two sides of the same coin. For too long we haven’t extended the T and haven’t invested the funds and resources into ensuring the limited system we already have is run at its peak capacity.

I often hear that non-Bostonians don’t want to fund maintaining the T when they don’t benefit. While I think this argument is short-sighted, in order to truly combat it we must expand the MBTA. Everyone should have access to reliable, cheap and fast public transit. More importantly though, we need to maintain what we already have. We should never have a maintenance backlog and we should clean MBTA stations and trains constantly so that the system doesn’t reach it’s current crumbling state. We have reached an embarrassing state of affairs, with a system on the verge of going up in flames, yet our leaders continue to claim everything is fine. It is not!

The MBTA is broken and we must #FixTheMBTA.

Bus only lanes everywhere

Walk the streets of Boston and you’ll see constant lines of single occupant cars creating parking lots on our streets. It is time we face facts and admit that our streets are not designed to handle the number of cars that make their way into our city every day. We can’t create yet more driving lanes but we can easily, quickly and cheaply make our streets handle more people quicker and more efficiently than they do now.

We’ve had a few pilot programs of bus only lanes and every single one has been a massive success. It is time we stop experimenting and instead implement permanent bus only lanes all across Greater Boston. Bus only lanes can make the commutes of large swaths of residents better instantly. Not only do bus only lanes make existing commutes better they also encourage more people to use public transit and save the city and state massive amounts of money by decreasing congestion and idle time.

Two of these bus only lanes will run in a circle around the city and around Greater Boston to finally bring urban rings to Boston. Eventually my hope would be to have two new subway lines serving the two urban rings but to start true Bus Rapid Transit with dedicated bus lanes would help move people around and across Greater Boston without a trip to downtown first.

Expand the blue, red and orange lines

The blue line should run to Salem, the red line to Brockton and Concord and the orange line to Dedham. There are no reasons these extensions should not already be in place. Day 1 of a Pieniazek administration we will devote resources to implementing a plan to construct these extensions ASAP. We will also have a conference to brainstorm ideas for doubling the number of tracks on all three lines from two tracks to four tracks. A four track blue, red and orange line system would be able to run express trains and have service 24/7, 365 days a year while also allowing for continual maintenance of the system. If we want Boston to be a world class city we need to have a truly world class subway that is extensive, reliable and always running.

Regional rail now

Day 1 of a Pieniazek administration we will begin implementing TransitMatters’ Regional Rail plan. We are lucky to have TransitMatters and even more lucky they’ve come up with a feasible, logical and impressive plan to improve our commuter rail system. We should take advantage of this free research and act on it ASAP.

North South Rail Link

The biggest mistake of the Big Dig was not constructing the north south rail link. Day one in office I would instruct construction to begin as soon as possible on finally linking North and South Stations. The NSRL would expand service capacity and allow for a single seat ride from Washington D.C. to Brunswick, Maine. We can’t fix the mistakes of past governments but we can make sure future Bay Staters have a modern rail system that does not terminate in Boston.

One fare to rule them all

The current MBTA fare schedule is confusing and discourages people from riding the T. We will replace the current convoluted fare schedule with one daily/weekly/monthly fare that will allow for unlimited rides for one day/week/month. Reducing the cost of riding the T will encourage more people to commute by T which we need to do in order to reduce the impact of our state on the climate. Reducing the cost of traveling our state will also increase commerce to all parts of our state. A rising tide lifts all boats and a connected Massachusetts improves quality of life for every Bay Stater.

Abolish front door only loading on the green line

Anyone who thinks the front door only policy is successful has clearly never ridden the green line during rush hour. Limiting boarding to one door makes the green line even slower and makes green line trains expend energy sitting and waiting instead of transporting people. Any loss in fares will be made up for in efficiency and rider sanity. The last day of the current administration will be the last day we punish commuters with the front door only policy.

Close every other station on the B green line

I can and routinely do walk to Kenmore Square from St. Paul Street faster than the green line. There are simply too many stops too close together. Closing every other stop on the B line still leaves a station within a five-ten minute walk from any other station! We should not have a train with stops that are less than a five minute walk apart. It’s simply not efficient for anyone. Halving the number of B green line stations will save costs and improve service for the entire population.

High-speed rail between Boston, Worcester and Springfield

In order to fix the T we not only need to fix and maintain it, we need to make the system clearly the best option for traveling around our state. In 2018, the technology exists to connect Western Mass with Eastern Mass and allow Bay Staters to travel from Boston to Springfield in less than 45 minutes and from Boston to Worcester in under half an hour. Sounds preposterous? Maybe, but we must dream big and try to achieve as much as possible or else our state will fall behind the rest of the modern world. As Kevin Garnett told us, “anything is possible” and a sub 45 minute rail ride between Springfield and Boston is not only possible but absolutely necessary to our state thriving into the future.

And more

There are many more ideas to research and implement. And there are many more issues to attack ( the silver line not being a four track subway for one ) but the above list is a starting point for fixing and improving the T. I welcome any and all suggestions that would either fix, improve or expand the MBTA. We absolutely need to work to make the MBTA the best public transit system in the world.

Why me?

Typically, this is where a candidate would brag about how they are uniquely qualified to do the job. I, however, do not desire being governor of Massachusetts in and of itself. I would love to continue living as a private citizen but, someone has to speak up for us and someone has to lead the way to fixing, maintaining and improving the MBTA. I simply want to live in a Boston where commuting by the T is not only bearable but the fastest and best way to travel. I would gladly support a candidate who ran promising to implement every one of these measures and more but that candidate does not seem to exist. If you do not think I am qualified for the job, please run and I will support you! The more choices we have the better for all of us! Until then I will run and if elected will work as hard as possible to fix the MBTA so that Massachusetts and all of New England can prosper. Please consider supporting me or running for governor yourself! Thank you!

That’s right, just two easy steps!

1. Rename Medicare to Trump
2. Rename Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill to Repeal (Obamacare) & Replace (with Trump)

That’s it everyone! We’re so close!

Confused?

Exactly.

I did say this intersection is the most Boston intersection ever, didn’t I? Standing at the intersection of two different streets that are the same street is so Boston you might as well call the two streets Boston street.

And so it is.

Don’t believe me? Here it is on Google Maps