The National Debt Clock

摘要

The official 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.