Dear Mr President,

First of all, congratulations on winning your first term in office. I want to address an issue that’s more or less looked over upon. Poverty in the U.S. has become more of a great issue in the past 16 years than it has before 1996. The true number of people in poverty in the United States is 4.5%. That's about 14,350,500 people who live in poverty in the ocean of 318.9 million people in the U.S.  

There are things that you as the president and we the people could to do to avoid that number growing. First, don’t make college free. Providing free college to the public will increase taxes by about 25% to all taxpayers in the country. This will, in turn, weaken the middle and low classes even more and leave the high class citizens unaffected. 

 Secondly, don’t increase the national minimum wage. Our fire fighters, the ones who more encounter danger more times than any marine ever will, get paid less than someone who flips burgers at McDonald's. Why should I pay someone who will mess up my order more than someone who saves lives for a living?  Lastly, we need to benefit our veterans and our homeless with healthcare, food, shelter, and help them get back into society.  Increasing homeless sheltering for people who are actually homeless and giving back to our veterans will help them on the path to finding a home.  

This is a serious issue in our country that affects thousands every day. I know. My family lost a business in Washington state about 6 years ago and my mom and dad still haven’t paid off the bills following the closing of the restaurant. We moved to California thinking things were going to get better, but things got worse. 

 My grandma shares her house with me, my sister, her daughter, my baby cousin, my dad, my uncle and his wife, all in a 3 bedroom suburban house. Rent is too high in the Bay Area, and buying a house is also too expensive. A one bedroom house down my street sold for over a million dollars, and it’s not even cleaned. My dad is struggling to hold onto a steady job. He has been for the past 6 years after the restaurant closed.  He just got a job back at his former employer, Sprouts Farmers Market.  I'm struggling to help my dad get back on track of paying off debts because of school.  

Please consider these ideas and my personal story to help the poor.  The richest man in the world makes $44,000 a second while the average blue collar worker barely makes that in a few years.  There are homeless that are starving, begging, wishing for a better life than the one that's fallen upon them. Veterans are still waiting for their health benefits after they served their time in war.  I leave you with this question Mr. President: What will you do for our poverty stricken nation, and how can you do it?