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I have been visiting with a lot of small business owners this August. The topic on everyone's mind is what can be done to get the economy back on track. The unemployment rate continues to remain too high. Too many Americans are without a job and too many have become so discouraged with the job market that they have simply stopped looking.
Last Friday we observed this year's "cost of government day." In other words that was the day the average American had earned enough gross income to pay their federal, state and local taxes and regulations for the year. It was the 224th day of the year, which is 27 days longer than it was in just 2008.
In July, the economy created 117,000 jobs. While this number was better than expected, it is still not good enough. We have an unemployment rate of just over 9 percent, but it is much more when you add in those who have stopped looking for work, or are under-employed.
Last week, the House of Representatives passed the Budget Control Act of 2011 to reduce spending by $917 billion and increase the debt ceiling by $900 billion. In addition, the bill would create a commission to identify a further $1.6 trillion in savings by the end of this year and require both houses of Congress to vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment.
When the United States does not take in enough money to pay for our debts we have to borrow money. Right now our government is $14,290,000,000,000 in debt. It's a staggering amount that has sky-rocketed. In 2000, our debt was $6 trillion and in 2008 it was under $10 trillion.
If someone asked you to pay full price for a roof repair now, on the promise they will do the repairs over the next ten years, you probably wouldn't take that offer.
A lot of folks in Congress don't seem to grasp that we are spending money we do not have. It's like the old joke, ‘I can't be broke, because I still have checks left.' The government is still issuing checks, but they are also issuing IOU's for nearly 40 cents of every dollar spent.
Over the next month, one topic will dominate the news coming out of Washington. The debate about if and how to raise the debt ceiling will hit a fever pitch as the government runs up against a deadline.
In the next week, millions of Americans will celebrate our Independence Day. The fourth day of July is the day that we celebrate our declaration of independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was the last time America was ruled by a monarch.
Some days working with my colleagues reminds me of the story of a young man from Washington who decided he wanted to become a farmer. An older neighbor farmer was so excited to have a young man entering agriculture that he gave him 10 chickens to get started.