US Debt clock coming down

[DPDarkPrimus]

As a bonus, the article has some nifty facts.

April 13, 2004 -- Midtown is missing one of its landmarks.

The world-famous National Debt Clock that hung on the side of a three-story building at 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue has been torn from its home of more than 15 years. The building, owned by the Durst Organization, is being stripped and demolished in order to make room for a high-rise.

But because the national debt is still rising, a new billboard-sized digital clock will be reappearing in a few weeks one block north at 1133 Sixth Ave. "It'll be going back up in a month," said Douglas Durst, president of the Durst Organization, which looks after the clock.

Durst's late father, real-estate magnate Seymour Durst, installed the clock in 1989 when the debt was $2.7 trillion. When the clock returns in May, the debt will be more than $7 trillion.

In fact, the debt is now rising so quickly that the last seven numbers of the new clock will be moving too quickly to be read, Durst said.

"The numbers are there to be helpful in reminding people and because my father thought it necessary to tell people how big the debt actually is," Douglas said.

The last time the clock went dark was in September 2000 - because the national debt was actually falling. It was plugged back in on July 2002 when the debt again began to rise.

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