U S National Debt is beyond the digits of the Clock

Where is the economy heading

Published on October 10, 2008 By Bahu Virupaksha In Current Events

A picture of the debt clock taken in October by Mervyn Kaye

In the hustle and bustle of the financial cisis on Wall Street and the politics of the Bailout package that was recently passed by the US Congress one stark fact was sadly forgotten. The US National bebt has balooned beyond the figures in the Clock installed at Times Square, New York. When this Clock was installed in 1989 the US National Bebt stood at a mere 2.7 trillion US dollars: it now stands at nearly 10 trillion. And this figure is beyond the capacity of the clock insatlled at Times Square. This figure works out to be a per capita dwebt of nearly 40,000US $ per citizen of the country and is expected to cross quadrillion by the end of this year.

The 700 billion US $ bailout package will only add to this debt and with the subprime mortgage crisis still unresolved it is time for US economists to bid goodbue, at least for some time to the orthodoxies of neoliberal economics and start rereading the classics of economic thought and theory like Keynes, Joan Robinson, Hicks and Dalton.

Comments

Dr Guy

on Oct 10, 2008

This figure works out to be a per capita dwebt of nearly 40,000US $ per citizen of the country and is expected to cross quadrillion by the end of this year.

Uh, not even close. I do understand that europe has a different naming system for their numbers. For the US, a thousand million is a billion, but for some, it is a million million. So a thousand Billion is a trillion to the US, but just a billion to some countries.

The debt is expected to reach 10 Trillion before the end of the year. It may hit a quadrillion - in a lot of years, but probably not in our lifetime (for us older folks - the youngs one may see it before they retire).

Funny you should mention Keynes since he is the father of debt spending as a way out of tough times. The unfortunate part is that they are probably reading him already (Politicians love Keynes because he tells them what they want to hear - even when it is dead wrong). Neo-classical? I think that is just keynes, nothing neo about it, and certainly not classical if you are thinking that Adam Smith is original.

Cikomyr

on Oct 10, 2008

Actually, many country except the U.S.. Specially when they aren't speaking english. It's just that the US forced their convention.. Effectively, for many people, a billion is a squared million, exactly as you say Guy. What you call a "billion" (a thousand million) is a milliard. I personnally think that dichotomy is more impressive than the one commonly used in the U.S..

Zoologist03

on Oct 10, 2008

I don't think it's possible for it to hit a quadrillion by the end of the year.

It's $10,000,000,000,000 now. A quadrillion would be $1,000,000,000,000,000. At least in this short scale thing we're using, which I just found out about.

~Zoo

Dr Guy

on Oct 10, 2008

Effectively, for many people, a billion is a squared million, exactly as you say Guy. What you call a "billion" (a thousand million) is a milliard.

So is a Trillion a Million Billion, a Billion Billion, or just a thousand Billion? I really dont know, and as I usually just write in scientific notation, have not checked.

Cikomyr

on Oct 12, 2008

You said it. A trillion, is a Million ^ 3, or a million billion. Quadrillion is a Million^4, and so on. It becomes really big really quick..

Scientific notation solve it all, but it's pure numbers, never "words". The common people aren't impressed with 15 * 10^12 US Dollars. They are, however, with 15 000 000 000 000.

I think it's a victim of the anti-intellectualism trend of the USA, where the common people put together the elitists and the intellectuals.

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