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News > Economy
Debt clock - ticks no more
September 7, 2000: 3:33 p.m. ET

Budget surpluses, payments mean New York debt clock is yesterday's news
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Drivers and pedestrians on Manhattan's Avenue of the Americas will no longer be confronted with a grim reminder of national fiscal irresponsibility. In its place, there will be a simple, patriotic red, white and blue curtain.

The national debt clock -- which displayed the second-to-second increase in the national debt for 10 years -- was covered with a curtain because of the new direction of the government budget.

graphicThe clock, erected in 1989 by the late Seymour Durst, is run by a computer, which takes a weekly national debt reading and then calculates the rate of change. Durst was a real estate developer with a passion for fiscal responsibility.

On Aug. 28, the national debt stood at $5.68 trillion, about $100 billion lower than at the beginning of the year, sounding the alarm that the still-rising clock was anachronistic.

graphicOn May 1, President Bill Clinton said the government would pay $216 billion off the national debt, the largest repayment in history. That figure would bring the total paid off to $355 billion since the government balanced the budget and began running surpluses.

The clock was covered Thursday to commemorate Seymour Durst's birthday, but will return to action if the debt begins to rise again. Back to top

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Treasury Dept. public debt site


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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.