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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.

That is why I support the Fair Tax. It would eliminate the federal income tax and taxes on social security, capital gains, FICA, gifts and the much maligned alternative minimum tax. Instead taxpayers would be charged a single rate on new goods when they are purchased.

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.

Just like money that you and I might borrow from the bank, there is an interest charge. In this budget year, we will pay $205 billion in interest. By 2015, that number is expected to rise to $505 billion. This is taxpayer money that goes to nothing but paying the interest on our debt.

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.

Yet, that's what the President is asking Congress to do in the raising the debt ceiling. He wants immediate tax increases in exchange the promise of reduced spending over the next 10 years. I don't think that's a very good deal.

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 1917, Congress capped the amount the government can legally borrow at $11.5 billion. The debt ceiling limit is a lot like your credit card limit. You can borrow only as much as your credit card limit allows and no more. The idea was to help control spending.

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.

In the place of a King or Queen, our forefathers created three separate branches of government. Each of those branches had checks and balances over the other two so that no one branch of government would become supreme.