National debt clock torn down, new clock to be erected

A new high-tech digital clock will be erected a block north, just east of Times Square, the sign’s owner said Tuesday. The building where the old clock had been hung is being demolished.

The last time the clock went dark was in September 2000, when developer Douglas Durst pulled the plug after government debt levels started to fall because of budget surpluses. It was restarted two years later, when government deficits began to rise again.

The clock initially was put up in 1989 by Durst’s late father, Seymour Durst, to bring attention to what he felt was a dangerous increase in government borrowing.

When the debt clock first was turned on, the deficit was a little less than $3 trillion. Durst’s family pulled the plug in 2000 when falling deficits hit $5.5 trillion.

The clock read more than $7 trillion when it was taken down last month.