Durst remounts debt clock at 43rd and Ave of Americas

Real Estate Weekly, Dec 4, 1991

Durst remounts debt clock at 43rd and Ave of Americas

After boosting the speed of the original National Debt Clock to accommodate the surging pace of the national debt. New York real estate developer Seymour Durst has remounted the clock at 43rd Street and the Avenue of the Americas.

The digital clock -- 10 feet tall, 28 feet wide and 1,500 pounds -- was formerly located on 42nd Street; it now faces south on 43rd Street and the Avenue of the Americas.

Recently, Durst had to take the clock down and revamp it to monitor the accelerated rate of federal debt increase, now more than $13,000 per second.

"Interest payments on the national debt are becoming the largest federal expenditure," Durst said. "Such interest expenditure is of critical importance, requiring reductions in social service, housing and health benefits."

The debt clock first debuted on Feb. 22, 1989, when the national debt stood at $2.7 trillion, and was increasing at $8,000 per second. When the clock was remounted again on Nov. 1, 1991, the debt was $3.7 trillion. Each American family owed $49,466.

During the last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, 1991, the debt increased by $432 billion, more than a billion dollars a day. The debt will surpass $4 trillion during the current fiscal year.

Durst said he is concerned that the national debt will further reduce the standard of living of this generation of Americans until it is below that of their parents.

"Government and public nonchalance about the debt is inexcusable," Durst said. "We have mortgaged our future and the future of our country because we refuse to face our fiscal responsibilities."

Durst has quoted George Washington on the subject of public indifference and the inability of the public to recognize monumental problems.

Washington wrote: "It is among the evils, and perhaps not the smallest, of democratical governments, that the people must feel before they will see. When this happens they are roused to action. Hence it is that those kinds of governments are so slow."

Durst said he hopes that when people see the lighting fast progression of the digital figures on the debt clock, they will better understand the overwhelming burden of the national debt, and that they will act to stop its growth and begin to repay it -- sooner rather than later -- while they still can.

PHOTO : Durst's Debt Clock