I remember passing the National Debt Clock on frequent visits to New York City in the late 80’s and early 90’s. At that time, the National Debt Clock was located in Times Square. I also vividly remember when it was shut down — with rousing fanfare during the Clinton administration — because the U.S. started running a surplus and the national debt declined. Unfortunately, the National Debt Clock was reinstated once we began running fiscal deficits again in 2004. Although it is it now longer located in Times Square, you can now find it on the corner of 44th St. and 6th Ave.

But the Times Square National Debt Clock is so yesterday. Move over physical National Debt Clock, the digital National Debt Clock is available for all to behold (ht Matt). How fitting that the clock is now available on-line, and the timing with which the link arrived in my inbox could not have been more appropriate. Now that the financial crisis has largely abated, we can all watch, in real time, whether the banking crisis will morph into a sovereign debt crisis as Rogoff suggested (see Rogoff, Ferguson Say Financial Crisis Not Yet Over). To see the online National Debt Clock, click on the image below (or on the link underneath). And enjoy, …or not.

US National Debt Clock Online

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.