Dear Future President:

          A major issue that is currently plaguing our nation is poverty. As of 2015, there were over 43.1 million citizens in the U.S. living below the poverty line. This number is way too large, and it greatly perturbs me that there are that Americans living in filth and destitution.

          No one in this country should have to live without a home, without shelter, without food. On a given night in 2015, there were over 550,000 homeless in the United States. This is a truly shocking number, and something needs to be done to bring it down. When I go into the city, I see people on the streets in every direction I look. Sometimes, there are beggars on every corner.

          In order to fix this problem and improve Americans' standards of living, a few critical changes need to be made. One of the most important is in employment. Unemployment is a major origin of the poverty we are experiencing. We need to create more jobs and stimulate the economy in order to put an end to poverty. Investments need to be made in our infrastructure (buildings, roads, mass transit, etc...) and our indispensable services (schools, child/elder care, etc...). Also, our education systems need to be revitalized and made more readily available to those who are eager to learn.

          Ronald Reagan once said, "We fought a war on poverty and poverty won." It's time that we finally turn the tables and vanquish poverty once and for all.