Dear POTUS, 

          You can’t run a car on empty, and you most certainly can’t run it if there’s a leak in the tank. So how are we able to function 20 trillion dollars in debt? The United States takes out loans from other countries to run itself. This debt builds up over time. A lot of this debt comes from the military. Tax rates in the U.S are low compared to other countries. A country can’t run with no money. We need to solve this problem before the federal government is needed to solve serious problems that cost trillions of dollars. You need to decrease the military budget, increase taxes, and stop taking bad loans and making bad trade agreements.

          The Soviet Union fell apart because its products failed its promises. One big reason it was dissolved was because it had improper internal supply. Distribution centers sent wrong supplies to the wrong factories. But it truly failed in its military spending. Reagan increased the military budget by 43%. The Soviets could not compete with this increase in military spending and, in December of 1991, fell apart. We do not face this situation anymore. The chance that another world war will break out has gone down incredibly. So the fact that we still have an enormous military budget doesn’t make sense. We face a larger chance of fiscal breakdown than world war. So why are we acting the opposite way? We face the same fate as the Soviet Union if we don’t act like we are in the 21st century.

          The United States has taken out loans from other countries that it can't return. It has also made some terrible trade agreements. The U.S. is loosing money from a supply we don't have. We need to renegotiate what our trade agreements and refinance our loans. The importance is paramount, we can't make money if we lose every cent we make.

          Taxes in the U.S. are low, especially compared to other countries. The United States' Gross Domestic Product Tax is 24%. The OECD average is 34%. The best way for a country to earn money is to tax its citizens. You know this. The only proper way to improve the deficit is to raise taxes and make sure every one pays their fair share. There are too many exemptions  and too many people moving their earnings offshore to avoid paying for the country that has allowed them to reach their height. Without every one doing their fair share this country wouldn't be what it is today. If people don't do their part now everything this country stands for will fall apart.

          To know the value of something you must take it away. If we stay in this fiscal hole when we try to fix the nations problem, like infrastructure or the racial divide, we won't be able to. Worse still if someone has a problem with us, we will be unable to function.

          The debt crises is like high blood pressure. It's a silent killer. There are much more obvious problems but they stem from this one. The world revolves around money. If you have no money, the world forgets you. We can't let that happen. We need to stop loosing money and start earning it again. The trade agreements need to be renegotiated and the taxes loopholes need to be closed.

         From, John

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/sites/default/files/3.1.4-figure1.png&imgrefurl=http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxes-compare-internationally&h=781&w=653&tbnid=cWSdhEG3mhM2RM:&tbnh=160&tbnw=133&docid=QJ7uCtCoVx0oIM&usg=__wDaZvKX7czOItG4YT2FL7_Rz1Vs=&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwikhsXB_dfPAhWQth4KHauyA8sQ9QEIHzAA

http://www.pollingreport.com/budget.htm

http://www.coldwar.org/articles/90s/fall_of_the_soviet_union.asp