To me, it is absolutely crazy that the United States of America, the richest country in the world, would stand for the number of people living in poverty today. There is a record number of people now living in poverty – 46.1 million, 15.1 percent of the country (www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty, 2012). How can a government such as ours even allow this to happen? And the worst part of all is that not one of the candidates in the recent presidential election even mentioned the word poverty in their campaigns, not even President Obama.

My goal is to bring America back from poverty by creating an economy that is so strong that it will bring the United States away from poverty, never to return again. I would like to see this goal completed by the middle of the next decade so that once Americans are out of poverty, they will be able to stay out of poverty own their own.

This will be no easy task. I have developed four solutions that will hopefully eradicate poverty in the United States. First, the creation of jobs. The lack of jobs in the United States greatly affects the number of people at the poverty level. The recent 7.5 percent unemployment rate is an improvement over the past, but it still shows that a huge number of Americans still do not have jobs. There is a requirement for both public and private companies to create jobs. Creating jobs at minimum wage will not take families out of the poverty level, creating jobs that pay middle class wages or better will be most beneficial. Second, I feel that education is necessary as another step in taking Americans out of poverty. Unfortunately, due to tax incentives and other incentives provided by the government (even though they say that they will end this practice), American companies have shipped jobs in the customer service and production fields to other countries because of the inexpensive cost of labor. It is unfortunate that the days of great opportunities in the construction and service industries has ended. Our schools need to start training, from day one, students for jobs in high demand, for example in high-tech or science positions. New incentives for companies to keep these students, upon graduation from higher learning, in jobs in the United States will help keep these jobs in the United States.

Affordable health care is another way poverty can at least be reduced in America. Universal insurance is most likely not the way to go. Co-pays, the price of medication and the cost of hospitalization in itself are high enough that someone who develops a major health issue could wind up at the poverty level. Reducing these costs, and convincing hospitals that aspirin is much cheaper if purchased at the local Walmart.

Lastly, we need to develop a better method of job training. Teaching Americans the skills needed to find jobs will also address the poverty problem. People who are currently supported by public assistance should be trained to for jobs that companies will create by keeping jobs in the United States. Also, retraining for Americans who have found themselves unemployed after years in the job market will help alleviate poverty. Learning new skills in order for them to find work will help those recently devastated by job loss.

How are we going to pay for all of this? It’s been said before, and anyone can see the tremendous displeasure with the prospect, eliminating tax cuts for the wealthy. They are wealthy, they do not need tax cuts. A recent promotion and raise caused me to be put into a different tax bracket, and suddenly I am making less than I was before the raise. It just doesn’t make sense.

The good thing about getting Americans out of poverty is that once they receive their training, or they receive their middle class paying jobs, or education rockets them into higher paying jobs, this will eventually eliminate poverty. It will pay for itself, just with these few changes.