Every once in a while as I’m biking around the Midtown area, I get a chance to pass by the National Debt Clock. I’m always mesmerized by its ever-rising numbers because a part of me cannot believe that the debt rises that many numbers in a matter of seconds.
Recently, the sign which sits at 1133 Avenue of the Americas (Google Maps shows an old image of the debt at only about $8 trillion), has risen past the $10 trillion mark and thus has run out of numerical spaces to show the national debt. The Durst Organization, the owners of the building and the sign, intends to erect a new sign with two extra numerical digits sometime next year. But for now, the dollar sign has been replaced with a non-digital one so that the number “1″ can take the place of it.
So why is the national debt rising so quickly? Well, because $100 billion was used to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and another $700 billion was used to bail out failing banks.
That’s all very scary when you think about it, but consider this: The national debt rises an average of $3.24 billion PER DAY. I can’t even wrap my head around how much money that is.
