Money Beat

This should hang over Congress and the Oval Office, then it might start going DOWN again.

That is a big number. The Keynesians have failed miserably. Time to give hard money a go again.

Ben Straub

Keynes always emphasized that deficit spending should be a short-term thing; otherwise it will end up dragging on the economy rather than stimulating it. This isn't Keynes' fault.

@Calis:

Do you really think that your suggestion would make the least bit of difference to those quislings? They've known all along how much the debt was growing, and how fast, and (with one or two exceptions, like Dr. Paul) they simply don't care.

Don't blame Congress or the President: People get the government they deserve. We the People keep electing the big spenders. This will continue, and we'll have to do one of two things: print money (a la Zimbabwe) or raise the interest rate on gov't bonds to attract more money until we are paralyzed like the African and South American countries. As soon as investors question our financial stability, the interest rates will soar. Services and defense will go to hell, and our fat tax dollars will simply go to paying off bond holders. Liberalism has consequences. Just remember to turn out the lights after we close shop.

They could display the debt in thousands of dollars instead of in dollars.

The U.S. government is $9.95 trillion in debt. This year the interest payment on that debt was more than $430 billion. The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2008 was more than $400 billion (which means more money borrowed from overseas to cover our obligations).

When will the politicians and members of the media stop pretending that the American taxpayer is being asked to bail out Wall Street?

There is no taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street. The money will be borrowed, mostly from overseas. The American taxpayer isn't even being asked to pay the interest payment on our current debt. The government has to borrow money every year to pay that interest, which in turn generates more debt and higher interest payments for next year.

If the so-called $700 billion "rescue plan" for Wall Street works the way we're told, the federal government will buy mortgage-backed securities from faltering banks, then sell them later when, hopefully, they will be worth more than we paid for them. In other words, the government could possibily make a profit. It seems unlikely, but it is possible.

If the government does make or profit -- or just breaks even -- then the American taxpayer is still off the hook for the $700 billion investment. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

But if the government plan fails, today's taxpayer is still off the hook for the $700 billion (see paragraph 3).

Future generations of taxpayers might be on the hook. But let's be serious: Nobody is asking today's taxpayer to pay for it. And what are the chances the government will ask any of us to foot the bill to pay off our $9.95 trillion debt anytime soon?

Adam Smith,

Bush has single handedly doubled the US debt in the last 8 years, 6 of which he spent with a Republican congress. Don't blame the liberals, blame your precious neocons and their greedy big wig friends.

The Debt Clock should be displayed in the halls of Congress.

And to think that when Clinton was President they had to shut to clock off, because there was no national debt. "W" sure has done a bang up job. How many days does he have left? I'm sure he will make it his personal resolve to crack the $10 trillion mark. Thanks to all of you who voted him in - twice.

Just use scientific notation and save the cost of a new sign. What a concept.

Vote 'No' to the bailout-Resuce Plan. The New Plan, puts Humpty Dumpty back onthe Wall Street. Wall Street is the seperation, between The 5% and the 95%. The New Revisions, only make Wall Street in control again. We wil once again loose our 'Independence'. Why would anyone support, the New Bill, will only bring forth a Credit Line of 'Mass Destruction.'Please vote 'No' to 'Wall Street'. No More Division.
Let Americans own their own homes. By Saving Wall Street, They can still own Your Houses, and later, evven raise the intrest rate, to earn themselves more money.
Vote Independant.
WallStreet will Buy McCains 'WIN'
Remember Clintons Suprise?
Take it to the Bank, That these stall tactics, is a Nixon-Clinton-Bush-McCain set-up.
Follow the trail Back to the Beginning.

Watch CNN and MSNBC

Call Your Congress and Say NO, to the same Bush McCain division Plan.

Vote Independent. Not Wall Street Support.

Looking At McCains Past Record, He has only voted, when his elect 5%, would make more of a Gain.

McCain was held away form voting No, on the Past Bill, because his 5% would not gain anything. This is a set-up. Put this view in your History Books. McCcain is Buying Wall Streets 'Fixed' Votes.
Vote No to McCains Afgan War 'Draft'. View McCain's past voting record. Voted against money for Younger Education, But supports his Funding of Teenagers of Drafting Age.
Vote No to Mc Wall Street.

Watch CNN and MSNBC for the Truth.
No more Bi-Partisanships. This leaves out 'Independence'. This takes th American Independence away.
Vote No to McCain

The Debt Clock should be displayed in every Town, City and on all Freeways in every State of the union.

I agree with Hillcross41 - in addition... how about having the numbers appear on every TV News channel like they do the time and the dow jones info. It would take up the entire bottom screen, but would serve as a great reminder of where we are as a nation. I think CNN, FOX News, etc.. would benefit greatly by doing this. On second thought, forget about Fox News - they are pro-NeoCon and would never advertise their party's participation in why the numbers are so high.

I think the presiding president and congress should be personally responsible for paying down the debt...that would put an end to this debacle..

Time for an auction to pay off the debt. Lets start with Alaska.

i'm real upset to think that my tax dollars goes to people who started this mess . and they still have there jobs. i'f i had of messed up at work as they have i would not have a job.

Everybody better call their congressmen tommorrow and say VOTE NO on the Bail out. Or we are in for a bigger melt down - just a little bit later.

“Everything that’s happening,” Durst said, “is completely unexpected.”

Really? Why does that sound familiar? Something about "no one could have anticipated" or a "failure of imagination", wasn't it?

Maybe it's time the public took a lesson from Mario Savio:

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/you-know-i-just-wanna-say-one-brief-thing/

This is getting to be ridiculous, isn't it? To get the debt so high, the 13-digt display has to be replaced by a 14-digit display. Why not go all the way to 15-digit? Maybe that will help save some money so you'll just have it done once rather another time when the debt clock gets out of room again. Don't mind me, I'm just scared with all this money we owe. I say we should all tighten our belts, not just us little people but particularly those who live in mansions, take jets wherever they want to go and go out on 5-martini lunches on the people's back.

Evelyn Guzman
Debt Challenger

Adam Smith & Reality Check:

You're both incorrect. During the Bush Administration the National Debt has not doubled, but increased over 71%. This is the the responsibility of the president, so we can all thank Georgie Boy for this one.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/09/29/couricandco/entry4486228.shtml

America has to borrow and tax more, just to pay off the interest on the money we already (over) borrowed. If you cut through the crap, and go back to simple basics, all economists agree that the first thing an individual should do to get their finances back into the black, is to pay off their credit cards, and get out from under paying the interest each month. The U.S. is no different. Instead of solving the problem by borrowing hundreds of Billions more, and assuming Billions more in interest, our first priority should be to pay off our loans, and stop paying all that interest on loans !!!

how can you say that the National Debt doubling is the responsibility of the president? The funding is all determined by congress. Look at the current bailout, Bush did not write this bailout, the Senate did and they added a bunch of pork to this like they do everything else and that is what is causing this debt. If Bush had a line item Veto then I would agree that it is his responsibility.

What truly amazes me is that so little is said about this debt and who exactly received or will receive this money we, the taxpayer now owes. Much if not most of it is attributable to the war in Iraq. Some of the monies went to the Iraqi government and to bribe the various militia leaders to not attack our soldiers. But most of this debt went to the friends of GWB and his sidekick, Cheney.
First, remember that our troops get paid whether they are in the US or in Iraq. That money is in the Defense Dept. budget, an annual appropriation. So who is getting the money? The contractors, that's who. The biggest contractors are firms like Kellogg, Brown & Root, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Halliburton, Cheney's former company. Black Water gets a lot, too. It is often noted that there are more contractors, est. 160,000, in Iraq that there are soldiers. At the AFB where my son was stationed in Iraq, the labor, e.g., cooks, cleaners, bottle washers, etc, is all 3rd world labor employed by KBR. Any equipment/facility not exclusively USAF, had KBR stenciled on it. And remember, these are "no bid, cost plus" contracts! The actual US employed contractors such as truck drivers are paid more than 10 times what our soldiers are paid. All of this was begun under a Republican President and Republican Congress and the Democrats have done nothing to bring it to an end except to rail against the war. And you can bet that when our troops start departing, they will be standing in dust of the departing contractors as they leave ahead of them.

This is just sick. This debt does not even seem to be bothering our representatives who are quickly eroding our freedoms and giving away money to private organizations that we don't have.

This needs to end. The huge spending is directly because of deregulation and our obtuse obese military. The 700 billion was bad, but a day before receiving no press was 600 billion for the pentagon budget, FOR A YEAR! Last year they got that much and THEN asked for more.