Comments by "seneca983" (@seneca983) on "Vox" channel.

  1. The Stability and Growth Pact indeed limits the debt to 60% of GDP (and deficits to 3% of GDP) for Eurozone countries. However, this isn't really a hard limit like a limit set by a country's own legislature which immediately has a force of law. Breaching the Stability and Growth Pact limits in practice just means you will be monitored by the EU Commission and maybe sanctioned if you're not doing enough. In fact, most Eurozone countries are in the breach of the limit. The US debt limit immediately prevents the Treasury from issuing new bonds if it is reached which is a much more radical consequence.
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  2. In the US it's Social Security (with upper case letters) because it's the name of a particular program (which only forms a part of the social safety net in the US).
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  3.  @YourLocalMairaaboo  "The thing is, Belgium gives way more autonomy to its subdivisions" I'm not so sure about that part, or at least "way more" sounds like an exaggeration. The US is a federal country and the states handle a lot of stuff. Of course, Belgium is a federal country too but it's not clear to me that its federal constituents are "way more" self governing than those of the US.
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  4.  @duncanfriend3766  "But is it fair for wealthy people to pay more into it when they won't get more out of it?" Removing the cap would also mean removing the benefit cap. This would still improve SS finances.
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  5. It might be even better to increase illegal immigrants who pay into the system but will find it difficult to ever draw benefits.
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  6.  @MattSezer  Isn't the point of a protected bike lane that cars can't turn into it (at least not without running over a curb or some other barrier which they're less likely to do)? I certainly wouldn't have the courage to ride a bike in a lane that's separated from car traffic with paint and nothing more.
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  7. "If there isn't a cap on the amount you can take out of social security directly tied to the cap for how much you contribute to it (that $168k)" There is exactly that kind of cap.
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  8.  @YoYodominoHD  "Do you need 2/3 majority to pass the budget?" If the president vetoes it then yes, otherwise no.
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  9.  @MattSezer  "NYC is over 14 times larger than Copenhagen. It's not comparable in any way." But I think that only strengthens the argument for bikes. Cars take a lot of space. In a city as big as NYC they're more difficult to accommodate.
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  10.  @JeeVeeHaych  I'm not an American myself and I've never been there so I can't answer your question.
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  11. The all-glass walls of skyscrapers look a bit boring IMHO. They'd look nicer if they instead had at least some amount of wall between the windows that could be painted some nice color and/or have some ornamentation.
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  12.  Pichkalu Pappita  High-speed rail might not be viable in (most of) the US but regular trains would probably work reasonably in many areas.
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  13. Does Japan have a comparable government program?
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  14.  @MattSezer  OK, thought you had meant that you'd prefer an unprotected bike lane to a protected one. Did you mean that you'd prefer there to be no separate bike lane at all but rather bikes and cars sharing the same lane? In any case, can't you just have the green light first for bikes and for cars after that?
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  15.  @JeeVeeHaych  As one example in the US states can have their own criminal law. I don't think Flanders or Wallonia can have their own criminal laws (correct me if I'm wrong).
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