Hello from us here at OKJack™Group™.

We here at OKJack™Group™ didn't take copious notes on every member of Big Media who beat the drum for war in 2001―when the ObL and AalZ attack on New York City, the Pentagon and U.S. flag airlines materialized. Likewise, we didn't make a list of the Big Media talking heads who spoke out against the Bush administration and congress for rushing The Best and Finest of Us™ into unwinnable counterinsurgencies―first in Afghanistan, and then in Iraq―just exactly like the unwinnable counterinsurgency that America spent so much blood and money on in Vietnam. Yes, just exactly like that one―except for the geography, climate and size of the troop commitment.

Now Big Media pundits like Joe Klein are aiming their keyboards at Disabled Vietnam Veteran, former army chief of staff and now VA secretary, Eric Shinseki. Let's see now. Where was Klein during the Vietnam Counterinsurgency? Well, he wasn't in Vietnam with us, that's for sure. On the flip side though, Mr. Klein did apparently hit the nail on the head in recent years, when he called the "...Jewish neoconservatives..." out for their personal cowardice, while at the same time these nonveteran politicians were seeking to rush The Best and Finest of Us™ into the next war for the wrong purpose, i.e., "...to make the world safe for Israel...". Klein was apparently referring to Iran at the time.

However, now it is Syria as well―and it is the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who seeks to persuade President Obama to deploy The Best and Finest of Us™ into that country.

And then there is Paul Wolfowitz. Yes, he's back for some reason or another. Right. He's back for the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the ill-advised invasion of Iraq. The former deputy defense secretary has a tendency to deny that he was the "architect" of the unwinnable Iraq Counterinsurgency.

The problem with U.S. educated Netanyahu is that he salutes the Israeli flag with U.S. blood and money. While the problem with Wolfowitz is that he salutes both the Israeli and U.S. flags with U.S. blood and money. Neither one of these politicians, of course, plans any expenditure of their own (or their families') blood and money any time soon―or ever.

Our response to Netanyahu and Wolfowitz from here at OKJack™Group™ is simply this, "Get real. Now."

"Or go to Iran and Syria yourselves."

"And when you depart for the front lines with all twenty of your fingers and toes still intact and attached―try real freaking hard not to let the otherwise revolving doors at the White House, Pentagon and Capitol Hill hit you up side the backs of your heads. That is―as you make every effort to shut those heavily oiled doors on your way out."

The Best and Finest of Us™ have been ensnared in the Afghanistan Counterinsurgency for 11½ years, i.e., 10½ years too long.

That's because the OKJack™Group™ 6-12 Lockdown Rule™ was ignored in October 2002―congress instead spending its time voting to give the Bush administration carte blanche to march its off the wall ideology into Iraq, and what would shortly thereafter become the Iraq Counterinsurgency. Then, 12 months later in the spring of the presidential election year of 2004, said rule was once again ignored. That is, the Bush administration refused to redeploy The Best and Finest of Us™ out of Iraq―said redeployment not occurring until 7½ years later in December 2011.

So, it's 10½ years past time to pack up and redeploy out of Afghanistan―the deployment into Afghanistan outlasting the deployment into Iraq by almost 1-1/2 years now. This is getting to be like the old ditty entitled "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall".

Here's the OKJack™Group™ message to Mr. Hagel, "Give the word to The Best and Finest of Us™ to simply pack it up." As Mozart once remarked to a religious prelate, "It's obvious that we don't satisfy." As a matter of fact, the Karzai-like and over critical Austro-Hungarian emperor once commented that Mozart's music would be perfect―if only the genius composer would cut a few notes here and there. In other words, "There are simply too many notes." What the tone-deaf & soon-to-be-without-an-empire aristocrat didn't know was that Mozart's music was in fact perfect the first time that he composed it and wrote it down. By comparison, The Best and Finest of Us™ may not be perfect, but they certainly don't need a tone-deaf & on-the-way-out would be aristocrat such as Mr. Karzai telling them that. As a matter of fact, Karzai's remarks are part and parcel of his administration's off the wall ideology―one or the other of which should certainly never have been propped up by American blood and money in the first place.

We presume that our regular readers are familiar with the internal workings of an S5/G5 staff. During the course of historically unwinnable counterinsurgencies, said staff and its state department field and embassy counterparts are charged with informing the indigenous population (whose members create and then nurture inherent and historically unbeatable insurgencies) the reasons why The Best and Finest of Us™ are on the ground in their towns and villages, and wreaking the inherent violence of war upon them.

If the latest Big Media discovery can be believed (and we suspect it should be at the very least taken seriously to some degree)―there may actually be a substantial segment of the Afghan population whose literate males and mostly illiterate females have no earthly idea about ObL's and AalZ's perpetration of the attacks on the United States that took place just prior to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in pursuit of the selfsame ObL and AalZ (only half of which pursuit was ever successful―unless, of course, AalZ is already at Guantanamo Bay without the White House and Capitol Hill "G5s" having discharged their responsibilities of keeping the population of the United States fully informed). There are some who say that there are ObL sightings, even though the world has been informed of ObL's death at Abbottabad, Pakistan―under the auspices of the black ops of The Best and Finest of Us™, said demise taking place some 9½ years after America's initial arrival on the ground in SW Asia.

The foregoing is even more reason why the 6-12 Lockdown Rule™ should not have been ignored in the first place. We're of course referring to the OKJack™Group™ rule that dictates these 3-phases, i.e., 1) getting in 2) momentarily locking-down an overseas TO and 3) getting out, the third phase well in advance of the inevitable and historically unbeatable insurgency getting seriously underway―said insurgency thereby 1) disengaging the lockdown 2) preventing the getting-out and 3) morphing the getting-in into an historically unwinnable counterinsurgency.

The foregoing is also why America needs to reengage our rule's phase 3, i.e., 3) the getting-out, even if some 10½ years late in doing so―which brings us back to the point of beginning and our message for the SECDEF, Chuck Hagel, "Give the word to The Best and Finest of Us™ to simply pack it up."

While we're at it here, we've got an equally important OKJack™Group™ message for the U.S. president, Barack Obama, i.e., the constitutional commander in chief of The Best and Finest of Us™ should really stop running over to Capitol Hill―this, even if he is in better physical shape than the vast majority of the 535 members of congress whose offices and lobbying anterooms are on that end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Congressional republicans (and some democrats) aren't interested in talking, let alone compromising. Worst of all, the republicans are simply getting a lot of otherwise scarce publicity when the president jogs up Pennsylvania Avenue. Messrs. McCain, Graham, McConnell and Boehner are each a perfect example of an old politician running after publicity until he is out of breath.

Incidentally, there is a rumor that the state that Mr. McConnell professes to represent on Capitol Hill might actually field both a smart and attractive senatorial candidate―one who could just put Kentucky back on the map. After all―George Murphy, Ronald Reagan, Al Franken, Sonny Bono, Helen Gahagan Douglas, Fred Grandy and Fred Thompson et al don't have a corner on ensuring that "there's no business like show business" inside the District of Columbia beltway.

As Middle and Working Class Disabled Veterans™―We Paid the Dues that Aren't Required™.

Therefore, we have few if any qualms when it comes to falling back on our First Amendment freedoms, rights, privileges and guarantees―while expressing unvarnished middle and working class conclusions, judgments and opinions that lead to better informing our readers, i.e., regular, returning and new.

Just to set the tone for where we're coming from for new and returning readers―we'll provide just one example to start with. Well, before we provide that example, just let us say first that we don't confine ourselves to a vacuum. We keep up with the conclusions, judgments and opinions of those who disagree with us. However, we get really tired of hearing members of the Big Six™, i.e., Big Business, Big Politics, Big Media and Big Religion in their biennial quest to gain and maintain control over Big Government (presidents & congresses) and Big Legal™ (supreme court).

That is, we get tired of hearing the Big Six™ propose nonsensical solutions for America that are associated with or otherwise linked to how things are done in the U.K., Germany, France or some other currently fortunate members of the EU (European Union). We just thank our lucky stars that these selfsame talking heads of the Big Six™ don't propose that America "get austere" like the currently unfortunate members of the EU, e.g., Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy et al.

That's our example. Now here's our tonal response to the foregoing talking-head proposal.

We are in fact America. We are not in fact anybody else. That is, America is the most vibrant of national economic powers. In turn, America has the greatest economic might ever known since the beginning of recorded time. It hasn't always been this way, of course. However, that's just the way of it―in this, the otherwise spotty economic, military and political start to the 21st Century.

Sure it's a bit gritty. America gets its hands dirty, and in the process we make mistakes. Even so, we hold on to our currency and aren't shy about borrowing―quite a bit more, of course, than we should have after Ronald Reagan and congress faked off the majority of the U.S. voting electorate back in 1980, and again in 1984. Yes, George W. Bush and congress faked everybody off again in 2000 and in 2004. And yes again, Barack Obama has himself been faked off by congress since taking office in 2009. It is our view here at OKJack™Group™ that we'll stick by the present administration in the near term. After all, the electoral college has spoken for 2012- 2016 through the majorities of the voting electorates in the 50 states and District of Columbia.

Upper class Big Six™ lobbyists and those foreign lobbyists with their hands held out for American blood, money and protection are simply going to have to open their eyes to the long term, and curtail their tail wagging―realizing that America's massive debt is simply going to short circuit those who continue thinking of us as nothing more than a soft touch. Along the way, the diverse middle and working class majority of the American voting electorate is going to have to dig in their heels and resist being wagged by successive presidents and congresses who are themselves both the wagged and the waggers.

While the upper class Big Six™ may be the soft touch that Big Six™ lobbyists and foreign lobbyists come to with their hands held out for American blood, money and protection―what is actually being touched (and misappropriated in the process) is the wealth of a nation created by the middle and working class. We refer you to The National Wealth Equation™ herein. And when existing wealth isn't available for misappropriation, then false wealth is simply borrowed by the upper class, but with the middle and working class on the hook for repayment.

We middle and working class Americans must be absolutely sure to keep a collective and wary eye on the likes of senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, and house speaker, John Boehner. At the same time, however, we've got to keep the hard and spit shined toes of our jump boots on the ready―this, should senate majority leader, Harry Reid, SECDEF Chuck Hagel and SECSTATE John Kerry fail to resist the lobbying of foreign sirens who have little if any compunction about using Big Religion as their wag of choice. The foreign siren that immediately comes to our mind is the smiling, steely-eyed and U.S. educated minority leader of the tiny yet nuclear-armed modern state of Israel. Beware Mr. Netanyahu's clones as well. There are several who frequently seek out talking-head spots on American Big Media.

Like Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy et al (discussed herein)―theocratic Jewish Israel and the theocratic Muslim SW Asian nations (that Israel has taken what has to be an economically, militarily and politically painful bite out of over the decades) are simply going to have to brave the "new normal", i.e., either stand or fall on their "own two feet".

Frankly, we find it just a bit unnatural that oil-rich Arabs (e.g., Saudis) and oil-rich Persians (i.e., Iran) have not bent over backwards to finance and arm other theocratic Muslim SW Asian nations. After all, the U.S. has financed and armed the modern theocratic state of Israel since its inception in 1947―to include nuclear armament, or what was once referred to as the power of the atom.

Likewise, we find it almost completely unnatural that oil-rich SW Asian nations have not financed and armed Palestine as an equal―rather than leaving the Muslim Arabs residing in Gaza and the West Bank of the Jordan River (and Jerusalem) to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune inflicted upon them by the U.S. through the U.S. client state, Israel.

All the while, of course, succeeding U.S. presidents and U.S. congresses profess to abhor such outrageous fortune. But then, the foregoing is part and parcel of Judeo-Christian Big Religion's wagging and being wagged.

Let's just be up front about all of this, shall we?

After all, does the typical middle and working class American really think in his or her wildest dreams that the God of both Judeo-Christians & Muslims is going to reach down from the heavens of the universe with one mighty hand to smite down Muslims for interreligious differences?

Let's get real, shall we?

As outrageous as it might have once sounded, if anybody is going to be smiting in SW Asia, it is likely to be The Best and Finest of Us™―but as usual, without a constitutional declaration of war. This, as said congressional declaration has been treated like a mere novelty and virtually ignored by successive presidents and congresses for the past 7 decades, i.e., since 1941.

Of course, the constitution's Bill of Rights and First Amendment separation of religion & government have been even more ignored―or shall we simply say "wagged out" by Judeo-Christian Big Religion.

And that smiting that we just mentioned? Well, The Best and Finest of Us™ were never deployed domestically or overseas to smite anybody on behalf of a president and any congressional majority because of interreligious differences―that is, until 2003 specifically (Iraq), and even more likely in 2001 (Afghanistan) for one interreligious difference or another. It seems that praying to the same God has little if any impact when it comes to smiting on religious grounds.

Said another way, it took 225 years before a president and congressional majority managed to get away with what for 2+ centuries would have been the totally off-the-wall (as in bizarre) idea of smiting anybody in contravention of the First Amendment separation of religion and government. In other words, up until 2001―such a bizarre idea would simply have never actually been taken seriously by the majority of America's middle and working class voting electorate.

That is, until 2003 specifically (Iraq), when George W. Bush and his military and political operatives went hell bent for leather in a really scary campaign to ensure Mr. Bush a wartime presidency until at least 2009―said wartime status also ensuring that Mr. Bush could label as mere novelties such longstanding constitutional freedoms, rights, privileges & guarantees as habeas corpus, probable cause, speech, etc.

Note that George W. Bush (and a majority of congress in 2002 voting) engaged in smiting Saddam Hussein and Iraq while acting as an unconstitutional "theocratic" proxy for Israel. Naturally, its fairly easy to vote to deploy The Best and Finest of Us™ to proxy for theocratic Israel―when a politician is lost in theocratic thought, and has never himself or herself served in the uniform of our great nation in wartime in a war zone. Again, it's simply time to tell it like it is. U.S. politicians just love to pray to their Judeo-Christian God, but personally come up short in the risk & sacrifice department (likewise those who quite distinctly resemble wagging tails)―except when said risk & sacrifice is that of other Americans and other Americans' sons and daughters, i.e., The Best and Finest of Us™ .

Actually, no president and congress would have dared to deploy The Best and Finest of Us™ for the express purpose of smiting anybody over interreligious differences until George W. Bush came along and more or less hinted that the Judeo-Christian God endorsed his 2000 presidential candidacy, and subsequent presidency. Note that it is a well known historical fact that religious killing is in fact the biggest cause of human suffering and death―whether formally or informally recorded or unrecorded.

Interreligious differences were the likely reason for deploying The Best and Finest of Us™  in 2001 as well. Osama bin Laden (ObL) and Ayman al Zawahiri (AalZ) used their respective Muslim slingshots in 2001, in an attempt to financially bring down the American economic giant, i.e., to bring down American national economic power and the projection of that domestic power as international economic might. Note that George W. Bush (and a congressional majority in 2001 voting) engaged in smiting the Taliban and Afghanistan as a proxy for Israel.

The threatening situation that America's national economic power is facing today is that twice elected U.S. president, Barack Obama, is being jerked around by congressional right-wingers, right-wing lobbyists and by a right-wing, arrogant Israeli prime minister―over some so called holy sanctity of some kind of absolute and unconditional economic, military and political Judeo-Christian relationship between 300 million diverse Americans and some 5 million mostly homogeneous Israelis.  

The potential nightmarish culmination of the foregoing is that American politicians have been lobbied and wagged to the unnatural point that Mr. Obama appears to be seriously considering doing what George W. Bush did―although to a theocratic and potentially nuclear-armed Iran. And what pray tell is that? Well, that would be unconstitutionally deploying The Best and Finest of Us™  for a third time in a dozen years―to act as an unconstitutional "theocratic" proxy for nuclear-armed Israel.

What the framers of the U.S. Constitution cautioned our new nation against in the late 18th Century was mixing religion and government. So, they immediately amended the U.S. Constitution to guarantee freedom of religion to We the People―while constitutionally disenfranchising any dabbling in religion by the then Big Government.

Nicely done Mr. and Mrs. Framer! Let's just hope that the current Big Government gets their collective head screwed on straight in this regard.

Other countries want to be like America―at least economically, that is.

And that is a ringing endorsement of America's hardworking middle and working class. So, to somehow want to be like those who would rather be like us economically―just doesn't make much sense. Does it? That is, except to the aforesaid Big Talking Heads of the Big Six™―who apparently are having one hell of a time staying afloat in the discernment and comprehension tanks. You know, it's kind of like the World War II navy ship's captain who depends on his sonar operator to pick up murkily clad submarines and other threats. Neither the captain nor the sailor can quite make out the shape and composition of those threats―until they are very near to the ship's steel hull. Unlike the slow-to-respond Titanic, our ship and its well-oiled crew has a powerful and mighty engine that can actually respond to its experienced commander's quick decisions as to evasive maneuvers. On the other hand, it is the doomed ship and crew whose captain sings out a nonsensical last second wish that his vessel's powerful and mighty ship somehow mimic the murkily clad threat.

So now.

We've set the tone that we wanted to set―in exactly the way we wanted to set it. We're more or less weighted with Soldiers and Marines here at OKJack™Group™―but using Sailors to shape our present response seems appropriate at the moment. Obviously then, it is our view that the fog of war momentarily take a break in favor of oceanic murkiness.

Okay then.

Herein are our views on seven traditional areas of focus―The National Wealth Equation™, Income Tax, War and Warfare, Bad Laws, Big Six™ v. Small Six™, U.S. Presidents and Risk & Sacrifice v. Tails & Wagging™.

These views reflect reasoned and seasoned conclusions, judgments and opinions―while applying OKJack™Group™ Extraordinary Commonsense Solutions™ to longstanding issues that are peculiar to the political, economic and military arenas. Naturally, our group's middle and working class views on each of the aforementioned areas shall continue to be a reflection of one another―with a collective eye on the present, as well as on the past.

Remember this, Mr. and Mrs. Middle & Working Class Reader™―the seven traditional areas that we collectively focus on are all integral to America's national economic power, and thus to America's international economic might. Without such power and might, the United States would cease to stand where it does on the global stage―and would become nothing more than the soft underbelly of North America and the Western Hemisphere. Said another way, America's time would be over―absent its economic foundation, the domestic infrastructure of which is crumbling all around its 300 million citizens.

From our collective point of view here at OKJack™Group™―the concentration of Big Government power in too few individuals in the senate and house of representatives must come to a screeching halt, if only to put the skids to America's decaying domestic infrastructure. At the moment, the individuals that we have in mind are the three men occupying the positions of house speaker and in the senate its minority (and majority) leaders.

On the whole, things appear to be settling down for America in the foreign policy arena―settling down enough that Big Government and the remainder of the Big Six™ can and must focus on the domestic arena, e.g., the nationwide infrastructure required in order to maintain the economic might that sets America apart from every other country and coalition of countries in the world―the economic might that makes America the country that it is―exactly the country that it is, as a matter of fact. Of course, that much concentrated focus depends on whether the White House lets itself get distracted by the state department―this, to the point that the president actually picks an unnecessary fight with one or more other countries.

Mr. Hagel and the defense department are hunkering down to deal with the drawdown and sequestration, i.e., across-the-board budget cuts. Let's just hope that the spirit and the letter of sequestration also hit the state department and Mr. Kerry as well. The state department needs the defense department when force of arms is necessary to back up foreign policy. As far as vice-versa goes―that's not, however, the case. It's time for the state department to cease avoiding diplomacy, i.e., cease huffing and puffing and blustering around the globe.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? We don't know. However, we do know that economic might is the chicken.

As to picking fights―we're most particularly thinking of countries in the Islamic block of SW Asia. After all, has Big Government not learned from the grave and fatal mistakes of the George W. Bush administration and successive congresses―the latter filled to the brim with a voting majority of huffing, puffing and blustering political machismos (including the female variety)?

We here at OKJack™Group™ find only dishonor in going to war over differences associated with religion―when after all, it is the same supreme being who rules over the endlessness of the universe that our tiny blue globe finds itself hurdling through from sunset to sunset every single night and day.

A very likely way of picking unnecessary fights that lead to unnecessary war―is for the secretary of state, John Kerry, to go out of his way to avoid diplomacy. Mr. Kerry, a rare upper class Vietnam Counterinsurgency Veteran and later anti-counterinsurgency activist, knows better. That is, he knows very well that U.S. Big Government simply cannot be out on the world stage pushing the envelopes of wars that America traditionally cannot humanly or financially win―especially today with $trillion annual deficits and an upcoming $20 trillion U.S. Public Debt. Said unwinnable conflicts include counterinsurgencies in SE Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) and SW Asia (Iraq, Afghanistan)―as well as present and/or future conflicts in Pakistan, Iran and other Muslim countries. And let's not forget that the modern state of Israel has been engaged in an unwinnable Palestine Counterinsurgency since 1947. Without successive U.S. presidents and $multi-billions in U.S. congressional appropriations (ably assisted by get along, go along majorities of the U.S. voting electorate armed with the spears of Judeo-Christian Big Religion)―the picture of counterinsurgency in Palestine would depict something quite different than what one sees today. If Israel is the thrashing tail that wags the American shaggy dog, then Israel is also the SW Asia theocratic client state that America can ill afford to finance for anything more than intelligence gathering.

By "avoid diplomacy" we mean Mr. Obama and Mr. Kerry going out of their way to babysit with a 21st Century Israel. By "21st Century", we mean that this is no longer the 20th Century―and nuclear armed Israel (courtesy of U.S. technology) can find its own way without wagging successive U.S. presidents and congresses. Modern Israel is now in its sixties―which certainly means that it is old enough to take care of itself. As a matter of fact, Israel has proven this over and over again by using force to expand its borders and "buffer zones" into Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. By "borders and buffer zones", we're referring to the original 50% share of Palestine that the U.S. and the U.N. agreed upon when Palestine was partitioned in 1947―and which original 50% Muslim/Jewish partition of Palestine simply fell by the wayside under force of arms, and as a direct result of U.S. Big Government's foolishly unapologetic, outrageously unconditional and unconstitutionally theocratic financial support and stonewalling UNSC veto granted by the U.N. Charter of 1945.

Aside from decades of Israel-Palestine issues, when this U.S. veto power comes to mind―we here at OKJack™Group™ can't help but think about former CJCS and secretary of state, Colin Powell, and his admittedly shameful performance before the U.N. Security Council in advance of the U.S. invasion of Iraq on behalf of Judeo-Christian Big Religion.

Just to be unequivocally clear incidentally, we here at OKJack™Group™ have never been inclined to throw out the original U.S. and U.N. idea that Jerusalem should be an internationally administered city. As a matter of fact, the city ought to be secularly administered―in perpetuity. We don't subscribe to theocratic trains of thought―or to associated vocabulary. We also don't subscribe to America ever sending The Best and Finest of Us™ to Risk and Sacrifice Their Lives and Limbs, Sight, Hearing and Physical & Mental Health™ on the ground in SW Asia―and especially when it comes to non-secular foreign policy issues.

We here at OKJack™Group™ are very big supporters of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment―separation of religion and government. It's a simple matter to us. Fewer Americans get killed when such separation is adhered to―and more Americans get killed when the line is crossed one way or the other. The latter, as in the theocratic nations of Iraq and Afghanistan―simply because an American president, vice president, secretary of state, secretary of defense (and his deputy) and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff (and CENTCOM chief) all found themselves "First Amendment challenged", and in more ways than just the religious one.

Note that it is absolutely no trouble whatsoever for us here at OKJack™Group™ to draw parallels between both Muslim and Jewish theocracies―and the very reasons why we don't ever want to see America become a Judeo-Christian theocracy. The latter, regardless of the power of Judeo-Christian Big Religion and the disproportionate nature of its congressional lobbying arms.

Before we get started on The National Wealth Equation™―note that we support the nomination of Vietnam Counterinsurgency army sergeant, Chuck Hagel, for defense secretary. We also support repealing administrative rules in both houses of congress that prevent majority rule, i.e., rules that prevent 50% + 1 votes. In the process, we also support repealing stupidity on Capitol Hill. Update: Apparently, Mr. Hagel was confirmed by the senate with a 58-41 vote which included 2 independents and 4 republicans voting against stupidity. Obviously, one senator failed to vote for one reason or another.

In other news, the former Afghanistan Counterinsurgency commander, John Allen, decided to join already retired David Petraeus out of uniform. We trust that this is the end of rolling the reinvented counterinsurgency wheel onto battlefields where it is inherently doomed to fail. They say that only 5% of Afghanistan's brigades can operate without NATO support―this, after 12 years of U.S. presence in SW Asia. So what. The South Vietnamese couldn't do much better after an almost equal number of years in SE Asia. And that's the real issue isn't it? Of course it is. The Afghans either stand or fall (like the South Vietnamese) on their "own two feet". Notwithstanding the human cost, Afghanistan is simply not a line item in the "borrowed budget" of the United States any longer.

Finally, we recently wrote to a retired vice admiral who heads up the largest association of American retired officers―this, to express our support for drone warfare, and yet to criticize a new medal for drone drivers who are not actually present on the battlefield (as if there weren't already enough medals for both valor and meritorious service, regardless of whether on the front lines or in the rear).

The OKJack™Group™ National Wealth Equation™ is:

middle class national wealth = middle class national power = middle class national privilege = middle class national control = middle class national wealth

The upper class version of the National Wealth Equation™ is this Personal Wealth Equation™:

middle class national wealth = upper class national power = upper class national privilege = upper class national control = upper class personal wealth

The red ink of the upper class Personal Wealth Equation™ is what America finds itself drowning in today―1) $trillion national deficits leading to a fast approaching $20 trillion national debt 2) a decaying national infrastructure 3) a counterinsurgency-weary national army and marine corps and 4) an intractable national government whose succession of 536 intransigent elected officials took their collective eye off the big picture 53 years ago with the onset of supply-side, trickle-down, "voodoo economic theory"―the latter term coined by George H.W. Bush while debating Ronald Reagan during the republican party's 1980 presidential primary.

Unfortunately for America and the middle class, Mr. Bush stopped criticizing Mr. Reagan―once the latter offered the former the number two position on the 1980 republican presidential ticket.

Mr. Bush chose to express an economic truth that Mr. Reagan chose to suppress―the latter, for the purpose of getting middle and working class votes with this false promise:

An off the wall theory that upper class taxes could be slashed, and government borrowing & debt then used to finance upper class creation of a massive number of middle class jobs that would subsequently result in an equally massive broadening of the middle class income tax base―thus, more than making up for the revenue loss caused by slashing the top marginal federal income tax rate and upper class taxes in the first place.

More simply put―the United States can borrow its way into prosperity.

This scenario has failed miserably for 53 years, simply because the upper class does not understand that the accumulation of personal wealth depends directly on the accumulation of national wealth created by the middle class.

In other words, the upper class does not create wealth. Rather, the upper class simply gets to share in the wealth created by the middle class.

Without a middle class―an upper class finds itself isolated with an underpaid working class and massive poor class that does not create national wealth. The latter was the case prior to 1913 and the ratification of Amendment XVI to the U.S. Constitution.

To paraphrase an old saying―no (upper class) man is an island.

Said false promise is simplistically breathtaking in its approach―and still ongoing in 2013 due to political intransigence. This, even with $trillion annual deficits and a U.S. Public Debt fast approaching $20 trillion staring the president and 535 members of congress directly in the face. This just goes to show to what extent Big Business, Big Politics, Big Media and Big Religion will go in their biennial quest to gain and maintain control over Big Government (presidents & congresses) and Big Legal™ (supreme court).

So, just exactly what is the aforementioned big picture that successive congresses and presidents took their collective eye off of? This, beginning in 1961 with the Kennedy/Johnson administration and the subsequent slashing of the top marginal federal income tax rate by a cumulative 70% by the time the Reagan/Bush administration came to a close in 1988?

Once one walks out of the middle class trees, gets beyond the beltway, and looks back at the proverbial forest consisting of those middle class trees―it's fairly easy to see that the forest itself is in fact the big picture, i.e., America's middle class.

Of course,  the 536 primary elected officials of America's gridlocked upper class government have lost their way entirely―and therefore cannot find the walking path that leads out of the middle class trees. Therefore, they don't have their collective eye on the big picture that is in fact America's middle class.

It was the forsaking of 1913's Amendment XVI to the U.S. Constitution and the subsequent Revenue Act of 1913 that resulted in the National Wealth Equation™ being transformed into an upper class Personal Wealth Equation™―this, during the still ongoing 53-year decline in America's middle class.

So, America is at a critical economic crossroad―with shrinking middle class national wealth and thus, shrinking middle class economic power.

An OKJack™Group™ Extraordinary Commonsense Solution™

Revolving Solely Around America's National Economic Power and International Economic Might

The OKJack™Group™ Extraordinary Commonsense Solution™ is to return to the middle and working class version of The National Wealth Equation™―by following the guidelines contained herein―noncompliance with said guidelines directly or indirectly resulting in negative impacts on national economic power and international economic might.

Read on―and write to us here at OKJack™Group™ should you desire additional details.

In the meantime, there are two indispensable guidelines to bear in mind: 1) national economic power translates into international economic might―and absent international economic might, America has neither the reason nor the means to maintain international military might and 2) domestic political weakness results from the internal decay of Big Politics (major political parties)―said political weakness being America's economic Achilles heel.

Said internal decay spawns an unearned and excessive share of power, privilege and control―the latter three variables of the Personal Wealth Equation™ that together bring their upper class practitioners full circle back to the avarice and greed that lead to a likewise unearned and excessive bite from the apple of national wealth that is created by the middle class.

Said avarice and greed translate to being unpatriotic―this, when they shrink the source of national economic power, i.e., when they shrink middle class national wealth.

P.S. Occasionally we are asked by readers how to see this web site's primary true type fonts as shown on each of the two gray interactive buttons, below, i.e., Bernhard Fashion MT and Book Antigua.

To do so, simply click each of the two gray interactive buttons―and then save the corresponding True Type Font (.ttf) files to any computer's operating system fonts folder, e.g., to C:\WINDOWS\fonts.