U.S. debt overpowers National Debt Clock

[Arazmire]

The National Debt Clock in New York City has run out of digits to record the growing figure.

 

As a short-term fix, the digital dollar sign on the billboard-style clock near Times Square has been switched to a figure -- the "1" in $10 trillion.

 

 

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wow O.o

[Tonsu]

I thought this happened a while back? Or was that the clock of some other US institution, I certainly saw something.

 

Ah well, talks have started behind the scenes here of an Independent Republic of Violet Hill - join us, all secessionists!! :D

[chuck kottke]

I recall we did have a national debt that was growing out of control right before Clinton took office. Enough changed in the time span of his administration to bring that back down, but it's been escalating again since the time when Bush took office. Oh well - there's 50-60 Trillion in the Derivatives market alone, so in perspective, it's not an insurmountable figure.. What is our economic output then - 12 Trillion per year? Gotta brush up on these things..

So where is this independent republic of Violet Hill?

[Arazmire]

It happened about a week ago, but i figured i'd post it anyway. It's quite amazing how many numbers there are there.

 

oh how i miss the days (8 yr ago) when we were only 5 trillion dollars in debt :rolleyes:

[Saffire]

I recall we did have a national debt that was growing out of control right before Clinton took office. Enough changed in the time span of his administration to bring that back down, but it's been escalating again since the time when Bush took office. Oh well - there's 50-60 Trillion in the Derivatives market alone, so in perspective, it's not an insurmountable figure.. What is our economic output then - 12 Trillion per year? Gotta brush up on these things..

So where is this independent republic of Violet Hill?

 

The problem is the debt compounds faster than the GDP increases. Plus there's the simple fact that the size of the government is unsustainable in the long term and politicians are unlikely to cut spending enough to make a difference. Obama even characterized McCain's spending freeze (which would only temporarily stop the growth of government spending) as taking a "hatchet" to the national budget. If that's not indicative of where government spending is going to go, I don't know what is!

 

What will eventually happen is the US debt will either be downgraded by various independent ratings firms or the world will get off the dollar as the reserve currency of choice, causing its value to collapse. Either way, very bad economic times are ahead. And America's empire will crumble.

[Matter-Eater Lad]

To make a long story short, I'm glad I invested in Enron.