The $640 billion in interest costs on the debt drags us back into the red. Collecting taxes we're owed and aligning what's owed to what's paid is fundamental to building trust in our government, says Julian Zelizer. The US could eliminate the federal income tax burden of the lower 90% of all US households by eliminating Social Security and Medicare taxes - thus hugely relieving their tax burden. "Americans are a prosperous, generous people. Let's start acting like it," writes Zelizer.