US debt clock running out of time, space

[aquajet]

Link

NEW YORK (AFP) - Tick, 20,000 dollars, tock, another 20,000 dollars.

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.

Mildly amusing, but not really a laughing matter.

[solvs]

Originally Posted by aquajet

Mildly amusing, but not really a laughing matter.

You ever think they might be doing it on purpose? I mean, I keep thinking no one can be that incompetent. But there it is. Hey, it ain't their money.

[Thomas Veil]

Maybe they'll need to add more than one digit to the front of that clock:

WACO, Texas (AP) — President Bush used the upcoming income tax-filing deadline and his weekly radio address to promote tax-cut proposals and set up an election-year debate with Democrats over the issue.

In the broadcast Saturday, Bush urged Congress to permanently extend tax cuts that he pushed into law during his first term, which are set to expire in coming years.

"Some Democrats in Washington are insisting that we let that happen, or even repeal the tax cuts now," Bush said as he spent the weekend at his Texas ranch. "In either case, that would weaken our economy and would leave American families with a big tax hike that they do not expect and will not welcome."

Democrats argue Bush's emphasis on sweeping tax cuts is driving up the deficit. They say his tax relief primarily benefits the wealthy.

The president argued that he can meet his goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his time in office through pro-growth economic policies and spending restraint.

*smirk* Oops, I'm sorry. It was that last paragraph. Please continue.

"The evidence is overwhelming: The opponents of tax cuts were wrong," he said. "Tax relief has helped to create jobs and opportunities for American families, and it's helped our economy grow."

(chokes, spews coffee) Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! OMG, I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it!!

Bush is down in the polls, which find most Americans objecting to the war in Iraq, and has said he recognizes that midterm election politics is making Republicans in Congress nervous. He used the popular GOP call for tax relief to appeal to Americans' pocketbooks with the April 15 filing deadline approaching.

"As tax day approaches later this month, many American families are now finishing their tax returns," Bush said. "And as you do, an important debate is taking place in Washington that will affect the amount you will pay in the years ahead."

By "you", does he mean my kids and yours??

That, I'm afraid, is where it stops being funny.

Link

[solvs]

The president argued that he can meet his goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his time in office through pro-growth economic policies and spending restraint.

"The evidence is overwhelming: The opponents of tax cuts were wrong," he said. "Tax relief has helped to create jobs and opportunities for American families, and it's helped our economy grow."

Bush is down in the polls, which find most Americans objecting to the war in Iraq, and has said he recognizes that midterm election politics is making Republicans in Congress nervous. He used the popular GOP call for tax relief to appeal to Americans' pocketbooks with the April 15 filing deadline approaching.

"As tax day approaches later this month, many American families are now finishing their tax returns," Bush said. "And as you do, an important debate is taking place in Washington that will affect the amount you will pay in the years ahead."

I'm absolutely convinced this man is either high or stupid, he is just oblivious to the realities before him. I mean, I know they keep him in a bubble, but that's just delusional. The people I know who have to pay a lot of taxes are still voting Dem next election because they don't like what their taxes are paying for. The people who got money back either don't care about the tax issue or consider it dirty money. I couldn't wait to get rid of the pittance I got back. People don't care about taxes, immigration, social security, or "morality" anymore. They're sick of Iraq. They're sick of gas prices being so high, sick of heath care costing so much, sick of the economy being stagnant, sick of all the corruption, and sick of being afraid all the time.

The Dems don't do anything, but we'd rather have that than the neocons who do everything wrong.

[Desertrat]

"They're sick of gas prices being so high, sick of heath care costing so much, sick of the economy being stagnant, sick of all the corruption, and sick of being afraid all the time."

Buy burial insurance. It ain't gonna get better.

'Rat

[Lyle]

Where in Times Square is this clock? And what's that ticker that's down in Union Square (or used to be, anyways)?

[zimv20]

Originally Posted by Lyle

Where in Times Square is this clock? And what's that ticker that's down in Union Square (or used to be, anyways)?

boy, i didn't even catch that. i just assumed they were talking about the one facing union square.

[zimv20]

going back to the article linked to in the first post, i saw this picture:



that is not the one by union square. so i guess there's at least two in new york. and perhaps the makers of the union square one planned ahead and aren't worrying about the y2k problem. sorry, the $10 trillion problem.

[Lyle]

Originally Posted by zimv20

boy, i didn't even catch that. i just assumed they were talking about the one facing union square.

I don't recall seeing this kind of sign in Times Square, but I only make it to Manhattan a couple of times a year and so it would not be a surprise if I somehow missed it. There's a lot of stuff in Times Square. But I guess I'd always assumed that the one in Union Square was "the" national debt clock.

[Lyle]

Originally Posted by zimv20

going back to the article linked to in the first post, i saw this picture

Yeah, I definitely don't recognize that one.

[zimv20]

i found an image (not a very good one, though) of the union square one.

[solvs]

Originally Posted by Desertrat

Buy burial insurance. It ain't gonna get better.

That's the spirit 'Rat. If you can't beat 'em... give in to them completely.

[mactastic]

Originally Posted by solvs

That's the spirit 'Rat. If you can't beat 'em... give in to them completely.

Don't worry, 'Rat will have plenty of complaints and suggestions for fixes once the Democrats are in power again!