Pay your taxes. It's that simple.

Running a country costs money - a LOT of money - and our country's main source of revenue is from taxes.

We live in the richest country in the world; a place where anyone can have virtually anything they want at any time.

And all our country asks in return is that you pay your taxes and serve on a jury when called.

And what do we all do? Try to find every tax deduction and loophole we can and ditch on jury duty at any cost.

What happened? We've gone from 'No taxation without representation!' to "No taxes at all if we can get away with it and not get caught by the IRS."

We have to pay taxes. Running a country costs money - a LOT of money - and our country's main source of revenue is from taxes. But we have tax-braked, tax-incentived and 'Read My Lips - No New Taxes!" campaign-sloganed ourselves into a national debt that our kids' kids' kids will still be staggering under.

The United States of America's debt is $10,721,181,498,002.00. That number is so big, I don't even know how to read it.

It costs about $2 to $3 trillion dollars a year to run the US. That's everything: Roads, school, social security and warmongering. (Yes, I said warmongering - it's what we do.)

Now, consider deficits and surpluses. A 'surplus' occurs when the country spends less than it makes in a given year. A surplus can then be applied against the nation's debt. We don't hear about surpluses much, though. The last one was when Clinton was in office in the year 2000.

What we're much more accustomed to is a deficit. A deficit occurs when the nation makes less than it spends. Deficits contribute to the national debt.

So when the country costs $3 trillion a year to run and only brings in $2 trillion in revenue, there is a $1 trillion dollar deficit that adds $1 trillion to our country's debt.

How do we solve this problem?

For starters, maybe the government could spend a little less. We all know the government is mismanaged and overspends. But the media and Congress like to cry about earmarks and 'pork-barrel' spending. In reality, pork projects run upwards of a few hundred million dollars. The really don't do anything to the bottom line. Even the $800 billion Stimulus is more like a little tickle when compared to the nation's debt.

The other solution: Pay your taxes. Individuals, small businesses and corporations all use a country's resources, so they should ALL pay.

No more tax breaks for kids. If you can't afford to support children, don't have them.

No more tax breaks for SUV's. If you can't afford $4/gal gas, don't buy an SUV.

No more tax breaks for businesses. Why should a business that uses a country's resources get to deduct office expenses?

In summation, Taxpayer, pay your taxes. You use this country, so pay for it.