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"In April 2008 the National Debt (Unites States total public debt) was $9.5 Trillion" - Wikipedia.
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17 Comments on The National Debt Clock - Is it a Ticking Financial Time-Bomb?
Didn't we actually have a budget surplus when Clinton left office?
Yes, "supposedly" we did by government accounting standards. Not sure what those standards are.
Stewart, Nice photo buddy! Too bad what your photo depicts sucks. Wait, I owe money on that photo! Don't tell China.
Rich - President Bill Clinton left office with a 65% approval rating (despite the charcter assasination effort by the Republicans) and he presided over the longest period of peace-time economic expansion in American history.
He balanced the budget and left office with a federal surplus of $559 billion.
It's a disgrace what has happened to this country in the past 2 terms..... so glad it's almost over (or is it?)
Maybe we can start drilling on our beaches for money too.
Stewart - Our national debt will eventually choke our economy. Kind of like when someone spends on their credit card until it's maxed out then decides that they can only afford the minimum monthly payment.
Looks like it will take another 8 years to eliminate this deficit and unfortunately we will all pay for it. My sense is that it will be painful.
Stewart: Why aren't the current candidates talking about this.. The president of the Federal Reseve in Texas gave quite a detailed speech to the Commonwealth Club of CA on this very topic. Obahma and McCain have no interest in telling us the facts - just get into Office and then tell us the bad news. This a more serious threat to our national security than all those terroists G. Bush has been yelling about for the past 5 years. Also, the mainstream news media is clearly irresponsible in their portrayal of our current and future financial status... it might ruin the party.
Richard - these debt numbers are real, just so large it's difficult to comprehend. I hope that Obama and Biden start to reinforce the severity of what this numbers mean for the country.
Stewart: They won't touch it - SS, Medicare, etc. are the thrid rail in politics - they always wait until it's a crisis to deal with these issues - we need a comprehensive national discussion about how to equitably resolve this serious problem. The same goes for our energy policy - we are subsidizing ethanol and forcing people to pay more for food, etc. It's all about votes.
So... Obama is going to make a dent in the national debt? Is McCain? I've not heard much at all from either of them. Do you know something I dont?
Federal deficit to soar to $407 billion
Deficit up by $246 billion in a year. Congressional Budget Office cites 'a substantial increase in spending' and 'halt' in tax revenue growth - CNN Money.
That drop in revenue is driven largely by the rebates provided to tax filers from the economic stimulus law Congress passed earlier this year. The spending hike is partly due to efforts by the government "to cover the insured deposits of insolvent financial institutions," the agency said.
Stewart: This is just the beginning - we're bailing out Fannie and Freddie to overt disaster in the real estate market, the Big 3 are lobbying everyone for a $50 billion bailout - we have no idea where our economy is headed and we continue to print money to keep us alive - there's no end in sight - the FDIC is going to need more funding to cover pending bank failures, and on, and on, and on. So what's McCain/Palin or Obama/Biden going to propose to get us back on track? I haven't heard anything yet that gives me any confidence that they have a clue. It's very hard to support either party at this point. The media is not using any muscle to get these issues in front of the candidates - they treat this like it's a beauty contest.
Stewart,
As you know from my past comments to you (by the way I love your political blogs) I am an Independent who has not yet made up my mind. I am doing research, reading everything I can and will wait as I said in an earlier comment, until the "STAR" dust settles and the debates are over. I will vote for who I personally believe is best for America, not only myself!
These are my two question's for you about our economic debt at the cost of sounding stupid to the many Republicans that post blogs and comments on AR. I am only asking for your personal opinion.
#1 "Shouldn't Americans be more concerned with the Presidential Candidate who has the best plan to get us out of this situation rather than being upset they will have to pay higher taxes to accomplish that goal?"
And concerning Republicans who dispute this notion, #2 "Why can't Republicans accept they may have to pay higher taxes for putting Bush in Office in the first place?"
Seems to me the people that voted Bush in don't want to pay for their mistake. I will be in that higher tax category. I didn't vote for Bush the second time around but I may have to pay for their mistake and I am not complaining. It is a part of living in this great country AT ANY COST!
Linda: I am an independent as well and voted for Bush the first time around - I have a number of Republican friends who truly believe that we will not have to pay higher taxes to help put our economy back on its feet. They see Obama as a tax and spend Democrat and McCain as an extension of the Bush monetary policy - they do not want to accept the responsibility, but in the end, if they win they'll have no choice. The only thing that matters to either party is too win and then give us the bad news - Obama has talked about riasing taxes, but his current plan falls way short of the revenue shift we need to turn this around - this will require a long-term solution not some sound bite about over taxing the wealthy - they already pay the lion's share per capita - unfortunately, it's going to be painful for every American - taxing the wealthy at higher rates is not going to make up the difference, but it sounds good.
Linda - Thanks so much for your kind comments about my political Blogs. As you can tell, I do get passionate about my opinion - but at the same time I am interested to hear other, substantiated views.
I think your two questions are so relevant .... We do need a President who has the intellect and personal skills required to navigate us out of the mess we're in .... and I believed that Hillary Clinton was that person.
Unfortunately, she didn't win the Democratic Candidacy ... so when I researched Obama and McCain I determined (in my opinion) that Obama has a greater capacity to deal with the many different facets of the job. I think McCain is too narrow-minded and limited in his thinking. Taxes are used as a "Hot Button" to evoke emotion rather than clear thought.
Republicans will never admit that Bush was a mistake, so they aren't able to face the cold hard fact that higher taxes (predominantly for the more affluent), is essential to pay our Country's bills.
America is a GREAT country ... and yes it has it's fair share of problems ... but we do have it far better than most in the rest of the world - and for that every individual needs to pay some form of a price - and if it's higher taxes as part of a comprehensive plan for our Nation's future, then so be it!
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. It's marking the federal government's current debt at about $10.2 trillion. The late Manhattan real estate developer Seymour Durst put the sign up in 1989 to call attention to what was then a $2.7 trillion debt.
During the 1990's the clock was even switched off when the debt decerased.
The Durst Organization has announced the clock will be replaced in 2009 with a new clock that will be able to track debt up to a quadrillion dollars.
I recently returned from New York, where I took another pic of the National Debt Clock.
It's incredible to see how our debt has increased since I last photographed the clock about 4 years ago .... when the debt stood at $7.5 Trillion!
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