Well, this pretty much blows his latest excuse out of the water - because now he's saying "When I say 'fundamentals' I mean the workers."

No you don't, you lying sack of shit. You mean the fundamental principles. How can a worker be a principle?

Asshole.

I love McCain's opening line.

"I blep..geh.. would...blek...gneggghh". What a total moron.

John's McCain and Sarah Palin's solution to curing the US' economic woes

"Pray more".

When I think of economic fundamentals here are some things that come to mind:

-How much disposable income do consumers have? It's still extremely high in this country. However, energy prices are making a dent.

-How difficult is it to start up a business? Relatively easy (extremely easy for service based businesses).

-How prevalent are the five factors of production (Natural Resources, Human Resources, Capital, Entrepreneurs, Knowledge)? Those factors are not declining.

-How much economic freedom do we enjoy? Less all the time but we are still very free in almost all respects.

-Is there still plenty of competition in all aspects of the economy? For the most part.

-Monetary policy? Don't get me started on the Federal Reserve Board.

-Fiscal Policy? We need to focus on that, both on the Federal and Local levels.

There are other influences on the economy that are not as good as they have been in the past (for example getting credit is increasingly difficult), but all in all I agree with McCain. The fundamentals are strong. But what's the point of saying that over and over? I don't know.

He didn't say that the financial markets are performing well, or that the housing market is on the up and up. He's being so vague that he's reminding me of Obama

http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/country.cfm?id=Unitedstates
"The economy of the United States is 80.6 percent free, according to our 2008 assessment, which makes it the world's 5th freest economy. Its overall score is 0.3 percentage point lower than last year, reflecting minor declines in four of the 10 economic freedoms. The United States is ranked 1st out of 29 countries in the Americas, and its overall score is much higher than the regional average.

The United States scores higher than the world average in eight areas and 30–40 percentage points higher in five: business freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom, property rights, and freedom from corruption. Foreign investment is subject to the same rules as domestic capital. Financial markets are open to foreign competition and are the world's most dynamic and modern. The judiciary is independent and of high quality.

America could do better in its scores for fiscal freedom and government size, which are 7 and 8 points below average, respectively. Total government spending equals more than a third of GDP. Corporate and personal taxes are moderately high and are getting relatively higher as other advanced economies reform with lower tax rates.

Background:
The United States is the world's dominant economy. With over two centuries of a fundamentally free, constitutionally protected economy, America benefits from its massive scale and intrastate competition. Trade barriers among the 50 states are unconstitutional, for example, allowing for the free movement of goods and labor. However, there have been troubling developments in recent years. Property rights have been threatened by the Supreme Court's 2005 ruling in Kelo v. City of New London. Congress has been active in raising the minimum wage, which has harmed labor freedom, but inactive in lowering corporate tax rates, unlike most other advanced economies. Most alarming, America's major political parties have been unwilling to curb growing government expenditures, particularly public entitlements.

^ Your accusations of vagueness on Obama's part are a bit silly.

What you seem to really mean is "Obama's plans aren't simplistic and absolute".

McCain is very specific when he says "I will veto every bill with an earmark" -- but he doesn't seem to be taking into account what kinds of good can be done with earmarks.

In fact, I doubt it's a promise he'd ever be able to follow through on, since all of Congress loves their earmarks, and the Republicans at least would sooner impeach a President McCain and deal with a President Palin who'd be willing to go along with them (especially since she loves earmarks).

So which would you have, well thought out plans that are upfront about the level of uncertainty to them, or simplistic policy plans that are so unrealistic as to seem like empty campaign promises?

I'd rather go with the guy who says "I want to try to implement something like this (and thumps down a 400 page plan) if I can" than the guy who says "I will deliver mountains of gold for you, if you just vote for me!"

What I do know is that not more than 5 years ago I could fill a grocery cart for 80 dollars, now it's 120 easy and usually more. Every little nickle and dime item is near doubled in price since then too - another way to slip in more profit that gets largely unnoticed. We are getting nickled and dimed to death in fact and my wages are about the same as they were in the early 90's and less if you factor in inflation and cost of living since then.

Anyone who thinks the economy is financially sound is simply blind. Everyone I know personally is losing ground.

Agree with much of what is being said, but do remmeber we are talking about a man who honestly couldn't remember how many houses he owns... don't dismiss that like it was trivial... look at it in the context of him being able to seriously state again and again that the economy is strong... From that kind of perspective it probably is...