Sign of the times: US national debt clock out of space
Having a great day? Here’s a bit of news to bring you back down to earth. In 1989, real estate developer Seymour Durst created a big clock that tallied our government’s debt. Durst was so amazed, dismayed, and outraged that the national debt was approaching $3 trillion (a paltry $2.7 trillion at the time), that he invented this gigantic clock and put it on display in Times Square.
Just last month, the clock ran out of space. They had to change the dollar sign to a one (1), because the debt had spiralled to more than $9.999 trillion. There was no more room!
(AP photo/Kathy Willens)
What is to be done? The Durst family (Seymour passed away in 1995) plans to replace the clock next year with one that has an additional two digits in order to keep recording the debt. Can you guess how high the new clock will be capable of going? A quadrillion dollars!
October 12th, 2008 at 11:57 pm