US debt clock goes digital

I just found out recently that the US Debt Clock has gone digital. Now we can all watch the US economy haemorrhage in real time. And in case you’re wondering, US debt stands at about $11 trillion as of today.

Late last year the real world US Debt Clock was shut down. The reason? In the decade since the Clock was first launched the US has racked up over $10 trillion in debt. Ten. Trillion. That’s a whole lot of zeros. So many in fact that the Clock didn’t have enough digits to cope and had to be switched off.

The Clock was first launched in 1989 by real estate developer Seymour Durst and apart from a short period from 2000 to 2002 had seen the US debt climb from around $3 trillion to a whopping $10 trillion in 2002.

The accuracy of the Clock is debatable, US debt actually exceeded 10 trillion in 2006.  The real strength of the Debt Clock lay in what it symbolised. A stark reminder of the state of the US’s finances it received particular media attention during times of economic turmoil. For myself, the Debt Clock was one of the most interesting sights to see in New York. Set in the heart of Manhattan it contrasted powerfully with the commercial grandeur of Time’s Square. To this day I’m convinced Mr Durst, the Clock’s creator, would have made a fine political satirist had he not gone into real estate.

Of course where the US goes the UK is bound to follow: when  it  comes to the epic national debt premier league we come in a close second, far ahead of France, our closest competition in debt.

(First posted, July 23 2009 on viralmojo.net)