More questions:
1. When US Treasury manages to print the US$ into zero net worth; how will goods and services now sold in US$s (US loans on the the world, oil, food, minerals, natural gas, IMF credits, World Bank loans), be valued?
2. Will item 1 occur before the US looses its AAA credit rating?

dhome, sydney, australia

Nah, nah, you've got it all wrong. The *Clock* is the one that has the problem! Lets just blame the Clock

Cora, Minneapolis,

Why has a country with such a demonstrable inability to exercise any economic discipline got custody of the world reserve currency?

"Most of our debt is to our own citizens in the form of bonds and the like." Check @ the FED to find China, Korea, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, EU, Russia etc

dhome, sydney, australia

Stop the spending money on Iraq, stop cutting taxes to the wealthy, stop the trade deficits, and may I go on...

This administration has destroyed the economy, there is no one to blame but themselves. This clock is another sign that our administration is incompetent on many variables.

Nolan, Huntington Beach, U.S.A.

With such an obvious failure to manage this debt, and with a political election coming next month, you have to ask yourself what else you would like the federal government to manage for you? Was it health care you want them to manage? Is that what I'm hearing?

Bob, Fargo, USA

I just want to make one thing clear, as a citizen of the United States, there are times when I'm glad I live in my country. This is not one of those times.

Ben Hansen, Duluth MN, USA

No no...don't change the clock! Leave it just as it is - maxed out. If you simply add digits, then it will undermine the reason it was placed there. It was placed there to help identify the problem. By adding MORE placeholders it will undermine the magnitude of the problem. It is a symbol.

Shawn Anderson, New Britain, USA

@Hans:
Most of our debt is to our own citizens in the form of bonds and the like.

Katie Grutsch, Peoria, US

So, if the US is this much in debt, who do we owe the money to??
Not UK, not France of China or Russia. Germany? Switzerland?
Or the World Bank?

Hans, NY

Hans Pedersen, New Rochelle, USA

The US also has the largest current account deficit of all countries listed in the CIA world fact book (according to wiki). By any measure of economics the US is bankrupt. I expect the Chinese bailiffs will be visiting soon to collect their TVs.

Oh, and the UK ain't doing much better either.

David, London, UK

It has taken 19 years to go up four-fold so should last for 66 years or so with two extra digits assuming that the first differential is constant (about 7%).

Of course if the second differential is +ve (i.e. rate of increase is increasing) it could take a lot less.

John Wood, Hull, UK