bigapple

The Associated Press is reporting that the National Debt Clock in New York City has run out of digits to record the country’s skyrocketing national debt.

The clock, located in Times Square and installed in 1989 by late Manhattan real estate developer Seymour Durst, has been changed on a short-term basis by the Durst Organization. What should be the digital dollar sign has been changed to a “1,” to accurately reflect the growing debt that currently stands at $10 trillion and change.

Next year, says the Durst Organization, the sign will be updated by adding two digits. Adding those extra digits means the National Debt Clock will be capable of tracking debt up to a quadrillion dollars.

When the sign went up 19 years ago, the national debt was $2.7 trillion. Talk about inflation.

The New York Daily News reports today that the Big Apple is likely to get hit with a hard, old-fashioned winter this year. Expect freezing temperatures and plenty of snow, says the Daily News.

“It may be a shock to some when compared with the above-average temperatures of last year in the East,” said Joe Bastardi, the chief long-range forecaster at AccuWeather.com. “It will put some ‘brrrrrr’ in the saddle of folks who have not had to deal with such things for a while.”

Blame the brrrrrr on the core of cold that visited misery on the Midwest last year - and is now heading for our neck of America, Bastardi said.

We can expect a “brutal” December, followed by a January thaw, then a return to wintry weather during February. This is not good for Americans already feeling the pinch in their pocketbooks from the country’s economic problems. But now heating bills will be up as well.