10 trillion to midnight

The current Victor's signs of the financial apocalypse series turns its sights to the National Debt Clock in Time Square. Since 1989, this billboard sized display constantly updated a series of numerical displays to show the current state of U.S. national debt and how much each family owed. I remember as a little kid driving through Manhattan with my father and asking him what all the increasing numbers meant. Being the lovable sadist that he was, he told me that it was some sort of scientific dooms day clock and when all the numbers reached 9, the world would end. As the case with most eight year olds, after hearing this news I promptly freaked out.

Now about 16 years later, Brian Williams mentions with his trademark gravitas that perhaps my father's cruel lie might not have been all that off.

Remember, this is without factoring in that $700 billion or so I.O.U. the government took out. Can you believe that there was actually a time in 2000, when they had to shut it off because the debt actually started to go backwards? Doesn't that just fill you with an overwhelming sense of melancholy nostalgia for the waning days of the Clinton years, NSYNC's "No Strings Attached", the high flying "The Greatest Show on Turf" St. Louis Rams, and Pets.com; a time when the only thing that crashed was your new copy of Windows Me.

One day we'll look back at this and laugh...OR CRY!