http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060327/ts_alt_afp/afplifestyleusbudgetclock_060327114411 US debt clock running out of time, space Mon Mar 27, 8:58 AM ET NEW YORK (AFP) - Tick, 20,000 dollars, tock, another 20,000 dollars. ADVERTISEMENT So rapid is the rise of the US national debt, that the last four digits of a giant digital signboard counting the moving total near New York's Times Square move in seemingly random increments as they struggle to keep pace. The national debt clock, as it is known, is a big clock. A spot-check last week showed a readout of 8.3 trillion -- or more precisely 8,310,200,545,702 -- dollars ... and counting. But it's not big enough. Sometime in the next two years, the total amount of US government borrowing is going to break through the 10-trillion-dollar mark and, lacking space for the extra digit such a figure would require, the clock is in danger of running itself into obsolescence. The clock's owner, real estate developer Douglas Durst, knew such a problem could arise but hadn't counted on it so soon. "We really expected it to be quite some time," Durst told AFP. "But now, with the pace of debt growth only increasing, we're looking at maybe two years and certainly before President (George W.) Bush leaves office in 2009." The clock was the invention of Durst's father, Seymour Durst, who nursed a keen sense of fiscal responsibility and believed government profligacy to be a national curse. The elder Durst, who died in 1995, originally thought of the idea in the early 1980s as the US budget deficit started to mount during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, but the technology was not immediately available to realise his vision. The original 11 foot by 26 foot (3.3 meter by 8.9 meter) clock was eventually erected a block from Manhattan's Times Square in 1989 when the national debt stood at 2.7 trillion. For the next decade it tracked, odometer style, the government's red ink with an extra feature which, by dividing the main figure by the number of families in the country, offered an estimate for how much each family owed as their share. Toward the close of the millennium, with a booming economy fuelling annual budget surpluses, the clock began to slow and finally ran into its first mechanical problem. "It wasn't designed to run backwards," Douglas Durst explained. Believing that the signboard had served its purpose, the Dursts pulled the plug in 2000 with the debt total showing around 5.7 trillion dollars and the individual "family share" standing at close to 74,000 dollars. The clock was covered with a red, white and blue curtain, but not dismantled. "We'll have it ready in case things start turning around, which I'm sure they will," Durst said at the time. He only had to wait two years as the Bush presidency coincided with an upsurge in borrowing. The curtain was raised in 2002 and the digital readout flickered back to life showing a national debt of 6.1 trillion dollars with the numerals whizzing round faster than ever. In 2004, the old clock was torn down and replaced with a newer model which had optimistically been modified to run backwards should such a happy necessity arise. Instead the debt continued to rise at such a rate that the once unthinkable total of 10 trillion dollars veered from alarmist fantasy into the realm of impending reality. "When it became clear what was going to happen, our first thought was to free up the digital square occupied by the dollar sign so that we could cope with a 14th digit," Durst said. The latest plan is for yet another replacement, involving a larger scale signboard. "We're not happy at the impact we're making with this one," he said. Durst insists that the clock is non-partisan in its effort to shame the federal government over what he sees as its willingness to gamble away the nation's future. "We're a family business," Durst said. "We think generationally, and we don't want to see the next generation crippled by this burden," he said. Last week, the "family share" readout on the clock stood some loose change short of 90,000 dollars.
And Bush hasn't vetoed one spending bill coming out of his GOP-controlled Congress. Insane. Keep D&D Civil.
I remember back in the late eighties snl had a skit of bush I selling off landmarks like mt rushmore.
The debt was paid down by several hundred billion, over 3 consecutive years (or was it 4?). That was the first time for consecutive budget surpluses since the 1950's. Keep D&D Civil.
Of course Clinton was personally ruining the moral fiber of the country so anything good his administration might have done must be overlooked. Saving money and reducing debt, how un-American.
It's amazing anything got done, considering the time and energy fighting the endless attempts to destroy him by the GOP. I have to say that Republicans deserve some credit for the surpluses. They took time out from assaulting Bill to compromise on the policies, issues and budgets that led to them. Sure, some will say the dot-com boom fed the whole thing, but that would be simplistic, in my opinion. We have had economic booms before, and it didn't always produce consecutive years of surpluses, that paid down a significant amount of the national debt. The Republican Party doesn't know how to run the country. Without a check on their power, they've shown themselves to be fiscally irresponsible, and internationallly reckless. The Democrats gaining control of at least one branch of Congress is vital, in my opinion, to force the Bush Administration and Republican Congress to act in a bipartisan fashion, and moderate their actions. Keep D&D CIvil.
Does the clock generate income or promotion (through advertising,sponsors, etc..) for the family that owns it?
No the debt kept increasing under Clinton. You must understand the difference between the debt and the smoke and mirrors of a budget surplus. By accounting maneuvers a surplus can be shown to give the impression that there is no new debt. However those are accounting measures using the social security trust fund and other govt. trust funds. Taking in more money doesn't stop the govt. from borrowing (Clinton years) and it doesn't mean that the debt is decreasing. That has never happened. The debt kept increasing under Clinton even though the books are cooked regularly by robbing the various govt. trust funds. We are paying the interest on the debt and doing our best to stay above water. All that is keeping us looking like the most prosperous nation on earth is a strong dollar, more debt and cheap imports. We borrow to keep our standard of living high. Think about it. link
The national debt isn't really that big of a deal. In a personal debt situation, the debtors can come in and forcibly repossess your property to pay off the debt. In a personal debt situation, you also can't legally print money to pay off the debt. However, with the national debt, you can: (a) simply default on your debt (b) print more money to pay off the debt These two options will enable the US to handle the national debt no matter how high it gets.
Oh, I almost forget third option which is what is being done now: (c) pay off debt by borrowing more and creating more debt.
you can't just print more money, see germany between ww1 and ww2. defaulting on debt is not an option either unless you plan on not needing anymore money. yes we are the u.s. but we can't just not repay debt and expect investors to keep investing. even u.s. debt is graded for a reason.
