Tick Tock

The National Debt Clock has been retired. Since 1989, the 26-foot sign in New York, N.Y., has shown the estimated debt of the U.S. Government, updated every second. Installed by real estate developer Seymour Durst, it started ticking off at $780,000 per minute, later racing ahead so fast that the computer controlling it crashed. But Durst’s son, Douglas, says the clock his late father put up on the family’s office building should go because the debt is now going down — the government has paid off $100 billion in debt this year, thanks to a budget surplus. “I think it’s sending the wrong message at this point,” he says. (Reuters) ...Sheesh: doesn’t anyone want to hear good news anymore?