National Debt Clock
Encyclopedia
The National Debt Clock is a billboard-sized running total
dot-matrix display which constantly updates to show the current United States gross national debt
and each American family's share of the debt. It is currently installed on Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas)
in Manhattan
, New York City
.
The idea for the clock came from New York real estate developer Seymour Durst
, who wanted to highlight the rising national debt. In 1989, he sponsored the installation of the first clock, which was erected on 42nd Street
close to Times Square
. At the time, the national debt remained under $3 trillion but was rising. The clock was temporarily switched off from 2000 to 2002 due to the debt actually falling during that period.
In 2004, the original clock was dismantled and replaced by the current clock at the new location one block away. In 2008, the U.S. national debt exceeded $10 trillion for the first time, leading to press reports that the clock had run out of digits.
The original clock outlived Seymour, who died in 1995, with Seymour's son Douglas taking over responsibility for the clock through the Durst Organization. As of September 2009, Douglas Durst's cousin Jonathan "Jody" Durst, with whom he currently shares a co-presidency of the company, is in the process of taking over the day-to-day operations as president. In an interview with The New York Times, Jonathan Durst has said that maintenance of the clock is planned "for years to come."
, the National Debt Clock was installed in 1989. After Seymour's death in 1995, his son Douglas Durst became president of the Durst Organization which owns and maintains the clock.
Douglas Durst has been quoted as saying that the clock represents a non-partisan effort; he has further explained the motivation behind the project in terms of intergenerational equity
: "We're a family business. We think generationally, and we don't want to see the next generation crippled by this burden."
According to Douglas Durst, his father had been toying with the basic idea of drawing attention to the growing national debt since at least 1980, when during the holiday season he sent cards that said "Happy New Year. Your share of the national debt is $35,000" to senators and congressmen. In the early eighties, when Durst first developed the idea of a constantly updated clock, the technology required to implement the project was not yet available.
, on a Durst building at Sixth Avenue near 42nd Street, facing the north side of 42nd Street and Bryant Park
across the intersection. Built by the New York sign company Artkraft Strauss
, the clock featured a dot-matrix display with the then-typical character resolution of 5x7. Similar to the second clock, the updating mechanism was such that the display was set to the estimated speed of debt growth (odometer
-style) and adjusted weekly according to the latest numbers published by the United States Treasury
. Up until the week before his death, Seymour Durst himself adjusted the tally via modem. Since his passing, Artkraft Strauss has been keeping the figures current.
In 2000, due to an improving debt situation, the clock started to run backwards. With the original purpose of the clock being to highlight the rising debt and the reverse giving a mixed message, and with the display not being designed to properly run backwards, the clock was unplugged and covered with a red, white and blue curtain in September 2000, with the national debt standing at roughly 5.7 trillion dollars
. The clock was not dismantled however, and in July 2002 the curtain was raised and the clock once again picked up tracking a rising debt, starting at 6.1 trillion dollars.
; the building has since made way for One Bryant Park. An updated model, which can run backwards, was installed one block away on a Durst building at 1133 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue
). It is mounted on the side wall of the building which faces W. 44th Street. The new clock is outfitted with a dot-matrix display of higher resolution than its predecessor which emulates the customary seven-segment
numeral patterns, allowing the numbers to be read more easily.
In the midst of extensive media attention during the financial crisis beginning in 2007, some news reports mentioned the National Debt Clock, highlighting the fact that its display had run out of digits when the U.S. gross federal debt
rose above $10 trillion on September 30, 2008.
An overhaul or complete replacement adding two more digits to the clock's display is currently being planned.
. However, the innovation of the National Debt Clock was to feature a constantly running counter; it has since inspired similar projects elsewhere, both in the United States and further afield. Various tracking counters of national debt are also kept online.
The National Debt Clock has also been credited as the inspiration behind other running totalisers, for example an AMD
campaign employing an electronic billboard; instead of a debt, it tracked the supposed additional cost of using a rival chip.
Running total
A running total is the summation of a sequence of numbers which is updated each time a new number is added to the sequence, simply by adding the value of the new number to the running total....
dot-matrix display which constantly updates to show the current United States gross national debt
United States public debt
The United States public debt is the money borrowed by the federal government of the United States at any one time through the issue of securities by the Treasury and other federal government agencies...
and each American family's share of the debt. It is currently installed on Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas)
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
Sixth Avenue – officially Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown"...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
The idea for the clock came from New York real estate developer Seymour Durst
Seymour Durst
Seymour B. Durst was a New York real estate investor and developer. He was also a philanthropist and the inventor of the National Debt Clock....
, who wanted to highlight the rising national debt. In 1989, he sponsored the installation of the first clock, which was erected on 42nd Street
42nd Street (Manhattan)
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...
close to Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
. At the time, the national debt remained under $3 trillion but was rising. The clock was temporarily switched off from 2000 to 2002 due to the debt actually falling during that period.
In 2004, the original clock was dismantled and replaced by the current clock at the new location one block away. In 2008, the U.S. national debt exceeded $10 trillion for the first time, leading to press reports that the clock had run out of digits.
The original clock outlived Seymour, who died in 1995, with Seymour's son Douglas taking over responsibility for the clock through the Durst Organization. As of September 2009, Douglas Durst's cousin Jonathan "Jody" Durst, with whom he currently shares a co-presidency of the company, is in the process of taking over the day-to-day operations as president. In an interview with The New York Times, Jonathan Durst has said that maintenance of the clock is planned "for years to come."
History
Invented and sponsored by New York real estate developer Seymour DurstSeymour Durst
Seymour B. Durst was a New York real estate investor and developer. He was also a philanthropist and the inventor of the National Debt Clock....
, the National Debt Clock was installed in 1989. After Seymour's death in 1995, his son Douglas Durst became president of the Durst Organization which owns and maintains the clock.
Douglas Durst has been quoted as saying that the clock represents a non-partisan effort; he has further explained the motivation behind the project in terms of intergenerational equity
Intergenerational equity
Intergenerational equity in economic, psychological, and sociological contexts, is the concept or idea of fairness or justice in relationships between children, youth, adults and seniors, particularly in terms of treatment and interactions. It has been studied in environmental and sociological...
: "We're a family business. We think generationally, and we don't want to see the next generation crippled by this burden."
According to Douglas Durst, his father had been toying with the basic idea of drawing attention to the growing national debt since at least 1980, when during the holiday season he sent cards that said "Happy New Year. Your share of the national debt is $35,000" to senators and congressmen. In the early eighties, when Durst first developed the idea of a constantly updated clock, the technology required to implement the project was not yet available.
First clock
With the national debt at 2.7 trillion dollars, the original 11 by 26 ft (3.4 by 7.9 m) clock was constructed in 1989 at a cost of $100,000. It was mounted a block from Times SquareTimes Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
, on a Durst building at Sixth Avenue near 42nd Street, facing the north side of 42nd Street and Bryant Park
Bryant Park
Bryant Park is a 9.603 acre privately managed public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan...
across the intersection. Built by the New York sign company Artkraft Strauss
Artkraft Strauss
Throughout the twentieth century, Artkraft Strauss, located in Manhattan, New York, was the preeminent designer and creator of Times Square's iconic signs and displays...
, the clock featured a dot-matrix display with the then-typical character resolution of 5x7. Similar to the second clock, the updating mechanism was such that the display was set to the estimated speed of debt growth (odometer
Odometer
An odometer or odograph is an instrument that indicates distance traveled by a vehicle, such as a bicycle or automobile. The device may be electronic, mechanical, or a combination of the two. The word derives from the Greek words hodós and métron...
-style) and adjusted weekly according to the latest numbers published by the United States Treasury
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
. Up until the week before his death, Seymour Durst himself adjusted the tally via modem. Since his passing, Artkraft Strauss has been keeping the figures current.
In 2000, due to an improving debt situation, the clock started to run backwards. With the original purpose of the clock being to highlight the rising debt and the reverse giving a mixed message, and with the display not being designed to properly run backwards, the clock was unplugged and covered with a red, white and blue curtain in September 2000, with the national debt standing at roughly 5.7 trillion dollars
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
. The clock was not dismantled however, and in July 2002 the curtain was raised and the clock once again picked up tracking a rising debt, starting at 6.1 trillion dollars.
Second clock
In 2004, the original clock was moved from its location near 42nd Street42nd Street (Manhattan)
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...
; the building has since made way for One Bryant Park. An updated model, which can run backwards, was installed one block away on a Durst building at 1133 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
Sixth Avenue – officially Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown"...
). It is mounted on the side wall of the building which faces W. 44th Street. The new clock is outfitted with a dot-matrix display of higher resolution than its predecessor which emulates the customary seven-segment
Seven-segment display
A seven-segment display , or seven-segment indicator, is a form of electronic display device for displaying decimal numerals that is an alternative to the more complex dot-matrix displays...
numeral patterns, allowing the numbers to be read more easily.
In the midst of extensive media attention during the financial crisis beginning in 2007, some news reports mentioned the National Debt Clock, highlighting the fact that its display had run out of digits when the U.S. gross federal debt
United States public debt
The United States public debt is the money borrowed by the federal government of the United States at any one time through the issue of securities by the Treasury and other federal government agencies...
rose above $10 trillion on September 30, 2008.
An overhaul or complete replacement adding two more digits to the clock's display is currently being planned.
Similar projects
The idea of conveying a message through a periodically updated clock found an earlier expression in the Doomsday ClockDoomsday Clock
The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face, maintained since 1947 by the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. The closer the clock is to midnight, the closer the world is estimated to be to global disaster. , the Doomsday Clock now stands at six...
. However, the innovation of the National Debt Clock was to feature a constantly running counter; it has since inspired similar projects elsewhere, both in the United States and further afield. Various tracking counters of national debt are also kept online.
The National Debt Clock has also been credited as the inspiration behind other running totalisers, for example an AMD
Advanced Micro Devices
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. or AMD is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets...
campaign employing an electronic billboard; instead of a debt, it tracked the supposed additional cost of using a rival chip.
See also
- Government debtGovernment debtGovernment debt is money owed by a central government. In the US, "government debt" may also refer to the debt of a municipal or local government...
- United States public debtUnited States public debtThe United States public debt is the money borrowed by the federal government of the United States at any one time through the issue of securities by the Treasury and other federal government agencies...
- History of the U.S. public debtHistory of the U.S. public debtAt the end of September 2009, the overall U.S. public debt was approaching twelve trillion dollars and passed that benchmark approximately 3 weeks later. The first yearly reported value was $75,463,476.52 on January 1, 1791. The debt was briefly reduced to zero on January 8, 1835.-Prior fiscal...
- Maxed OutMaxed OutMaxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders is an independent feature-length documentary film and book that chronicles abusive practices in the credit card industry....
, a 2006 documentary in which the clock is featured
External links
- treasurydirect.gov — U.S. public debt on TreasuryDirectTreasuryDirectTreasuryDirect is a website run by the United States Treasury that allows US individual investors to purchase Treasury securities such as T-Bills and others directly from the U.S. government...
, a website maintained by the United States TreasuryUnited States Department of the TreasuryThe Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue... - brillig.com — U.S. public debt clock website
- perotcharts.com — U.S. public debt clock and charts
- debtbombshell.com — UK national debt clock
- debt-clock.org — UK debt clock project by the TaxPayers' AllianceTaxPayers' AllianceThe TaxPayers' Alliance is a British pressure group and taxpayers union formed in 2004 to campaign for a low tax society. The group had about 18,000 registered supporters as of 2008, and claimed to have 55,000 by September 2010....
- steuerzahler.de — German national debt clock on the website of taxpayer watchdog group Bund der Steuerzahler
- dlugpubliczny.org — Polish debt clock project by "Długpubliczny"
- time-is-money.biz — French national debt clock