NEW YORK — Financial services giant Morgan Stanley will cut 580 New York City jobs in the coming months, the New York Times reported.

According to a notice filed with the State Department of Labor Tuesday, over a third of the firm’s impending layoffs will come from the four Manhattan branches. The notice cited economic woes as the reason for the cuts, which will occur by the first quarter of 2012.

The report follows an announcement on December 15th that the firm would eliminate 2.6 percent of its workforce or 1600 jobs nationwide.

Morgan Stanley is one of the last investment firms to announce major cutbacks this year. Bank of America, Barclays and UBS announced plans to cut tens of thousands of jobs over the next few years, according to the Huffington Post. The Times reported Citigroup would lay off 4,500 workers and Goldman Sachs would eliminate 230 positions in New York alone by March 2012.

If you need more evidence that America is in real financial peril, go to Times Square.

The National Debt Clock, a ticker that records America’s national deficit, has run out of digits.

The debt currently stands at over $10 trillion.‚  The clock however does not have enough spaces to record a debt in excess $9,999,999,999,999.

As a short-term fix (if you can call it that), the Durst Organization, which runs the clock, will replace the dollar symbol on the ticker with the “1″ in $10 trillion.

The sign was erected in 1989 when the debt stood at about $2.7 trillion. In 2000 however, the clock began to malfunction and started shaving roughly $30 a second off the debt.

When it was shut down the clock read: “Our national debt: $5,676,989,904,887. Your family share: $73,733.” The debt has risen almost $5 trillion in less than 20 years.

The problem will be fixed sometime next year.

Just another example of the state of America’s economy.‚  The clock is a pretty cool idea, but I’d imagine walking by and reading it on a daily basis would be pretty depressing.

The day the Durst Organization updates the sign will be pretty depressing too.‚  The update would make it possible for the sign to track a debt of up to a quadrillion dollars.‚  Can you imagine that?

I can’t imagine a quadrillion of anything, let alone dollars.

Presidential race flashback: In his 2000 campaign, Al Gore said he’d eliminate the national debt by 2012. That would’ve required decreasing the deficit in 12 years by as much it was raised in 20.

Oh, and by 2012 he would’ve been out of office for a full term.

Absolutely hilarious. This has been flying around inboxes today.

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

DEAR AMERICAN:

I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.

I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

I AM WORKING WITH MR. PHIL GRAM, LOBBYIST FOR UBS, WHO WILL BE MY REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY. AS A SENATOR, YOU MAY KNOW HIM AS THE LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION MOVEMENT IN THE 1990S. THIS TRANSACTIN IS 100% SAFE.

THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED A BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED.

PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS.

YOURS FAITHFULLY MINISTER OF TREASURY PAULSON

Sen. John McCain announced he will be suspending his presidential campaign in order to tend to America’s dwindling economy.

McCain urged Sen. Barack Obama to do the same and join him in Washington.‚  Obama told media he will proceed on the campaign trail as normal.

Obama did however say he would return to Washington only if it helped negotiations and didn’t draw attention away from the task at hand.

Obama spoke with McCain on the phone and agreed to issue a joint statement on their position of the handling of the economic crisis by the Bush administration.‚  Probably not a favorable one.

McCain also wants to postpone this Friday’s presidential debate in a move Obama aides are calling a “staged photo op.”

When McCain told Obama he wanted to push the debate back, Obama heavily disagreed.‚  “This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person [who] will be the next president” he told media.

It’s OK that McCain wants to go back to Washington to put in his two cents, he’s known for voicing his opinion and this is a very serious issue.

They shouldn’t postpone the debate though, what Obama said is correct.‚  Right now, in a time of countless global economic crises, the American people need to hear what their potential leader has in mind.‚  They want to know how he will get them out of this seemingly ever-expanding black hole of debt.

It’s great that this week’s debate focuses on foreign policy.‚  Foreign policy ties into the issue of economy wonderfully, so I think they can get some good questions and hopefully some good answers.

If a section of the questions (most of them probably will be) are for example, devoted to the American economy on a global stage or how each candidate would strengthen America’s economic reputation with the world, people will be satisfied.

Regardless of the topic, the recent AIG bailout and the Bush administration’s proposed bailout will certainly be addressed.

Nothing would be worse than having a presidential debate during a time of economic crisis that doesn’t focus on the economy.‚  That’s not the case, so I say, let the show go on.