Bizarre

National Debt Clock runs out of digits

Thursday, October 09, 2008

The National Debt Clock is shown near Times Square in New York, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008. The clock has run out of digits to record the growing figure. As a temporary fix, the dollar sign has been switched to a figure--the "1" in $10 trillion. The clock is marking the current national debt at about $10.2 trillion. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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NEW YORK -- In a sign of the times, 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 Durst Organization says it plans to update the sign next year by adding two digits. That will make it capable of tracking debt up to a quadrillion dollars.

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.