I.O.U.S.A - Addison Wiggin [23]
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Chapter 2 The Budget Defi cit 39
people want their government to do . . . then providing the means to pay for it.
“ I left Treasury in July 1999. In 1998, the federal government of the United States had a fi scal surplus for the fi rst time in, roughly speaking, thirty years. The projections forward based on the fi scal policies then in place were for continued surpluses for long, long time into the future. I thought that what had happened — well actually, I ’ m not going to say what I thought. What had happened
I thought that what had happened
was that a political coalescence was that a political coalescence had occurred or developed around had occurred or developed around maintaining fi scal discipline, which maintaining fi scal discipline.
is a very diffi cult thing to do politi-
—ROBERT RUBIN
cally because it requires spending
constraint and adequate revenues. And I thought we were on that track. ”
Unfortunately, as you ’ ll see, that didn ’ t last long.
What Were They Thinking?
With the projections for surpluses well into the future, the owners of the debt clock in Times Square decided to turn off the debt clock that real estate mogul Seymore Durst had erected in 1989 to show the amount of money owed by the government.
“ It happened this week,
” said one reporter,
“ something few of us thought we ’ d ever see. The national debt clock was turned off at noon last Thursday, having outlived its purpose. While the national debt has hardly disappeared, it stands somewhere in the fi ve trillion dollar range; it is slowly winding down, having dropped by over a hundred billion dollars since the fi rst of the year. ”
“ When the debt clock was turned off, ” says Bob Bixby, “ I thought, ‘ This is going to get ugly. ’ It sends a signal that the problem is solved, and those of us that were looking at the long -
term numbers knew that the problem really wasn ’ t solved, and frankly weren ’ t very surprised to see the debt clock go back on again a few years later. ”
c02.indd 39
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40 The
Mission
In July 2002, just two years after it had been turned off,
The National
Debt Clock: First
Douglas Durst, son of Seymore Durst, decided to start it up erected in Times
again. At that time, the clock showed the United States gov-Square in 1989, the ernment owed more than $6 trillion, or $66,000 for every national debt clock
American family.
was the brainchild
Mr. Durst turned the clock back on because he thought of real estate
developer Seymour the American people needed to be reminded that the surplus Hurst, who had
of the late 1990s was long gone — and the era of defi cit spend-grown increasingly
ing was back.
despondent over
“ My father had many ideas of how to bring out the grow-the growing
ing danger of the debt, ” says Durst. “ At one point he sent out national debt. By
the end of 2008, the
a New Year ’ s card to all the people in Congress, saying, ‘ Happy Durst family will
New Year: You owe the Federal Government thirty thousand have to order a
dollars. ’
new clock because
“ When we put this sign up we moved it from around the the current one
doesn’t have even
corner and we put it up over the entrance to the IRS, which we spaces to show
thought was very appropriate.
$10 trillion.
“ The clock we had during the Clinton presidency could not run backwards so we covered it up with an American fl ag.
This new clock will be able to run backwards. Hopefully, we ’ ll get to a point where we can do that. ”
The Real Pain
When the Fiscal Wake - Up Tour hit Ames, Iowa, in July 2007, we met up with David Yepsen, a political columnist with the Des Moines Register.
“ The most important issue in the election is Iraq, ” says Yepsen, “ but [the state of the nation ’ s balance sheet] is really the most important issue facing the country.