Reform NOT revenue: The MBTA

The MBTA continues to “crash” in spectacular fashion before the very eyes of the public it ostensibly serves. Corruption, goldbricking, ineptitude and corruption are pervasive. The latest slap in the face: a Green Line snafu which led to the delay of a much anticipated kidnapping trial. As the saying goes: “Justice delayed is justice denied”. For the MBTA, the time  has long since passed for the administration of justice. In this case, the thing to do is to sell the system to the highest possible bidder. It is little more than a fiscal black hole, and it would possibly be cheaper for the state to subsidize riders with a stipend of some kind. Not that we favor government-administered subsidies, but the dollar-cost analysis would be insightful nonetheless. The MBTA has rifled the pockets of taxpayers long enough. The only reform worthy here is a sale of the “asset” itself.

Revenue problem or….SPENDING problem?

According to this Boston Globe article, “Political momentum builds for state sales tax increase”. Indeed; and so the Massachusetts Welfare State continues its efforts to stave off a death it well deserves, the talk turns toward tax increases, again. No talk of meaningful spending reforms that will address the inherent STRUCTURAL inefficiencies characteristic of most government/state bureaucracies. These reforms include Pacheco Law repeal, Project Labor Agreement termination, and sale of the MBTA (rife with corruption and inefficiency) for starters. It goes without saying that the public employee pension gravy train has run its course. Time for these folks to get off the dole and try living in the real world, where pensions are largely a relic of the past. In its essence, Massachusetts has a spending  problem and not a revenue problem. Let genuine reform begin before anyone searches for “new” revenue.