But the Fundamentals Are Strong!

John McCain said, today, that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong." He doesn't even know what this is supposed to mean, of course, because all he knows about the economy is that the Navy gives you money and benefits and the Senate gives you money and benefits and Social Security gives you money and benefits and your Beer Heiress wife buys your seven castles and private jet. But what did themarketshave to say? Uh, how about a 504-point drop in the Dow and a 4.7% plunge in the S&P?

• "A stunning makeover of the Wall Street landscape sent stocks falling precipitously Monday, with the Dow Jones industrials sliding 500 points in their worst point drop since the September 2001 terrorist attacks." [ AP ]

• "U.S. stocks tumbled, pushing the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to the steepest drop since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s bankruptcy and declining commodities increased speculation that credit-market losses and the economic slowdown will worsen." [ Bloomberg ]

• "After more than six months in triple-digit territory, oil prices dropped sharply on Monday, falling under the symbolic $100-a-barrel threshold as financial woes raised concerns about a slowing economy and slackening oil demand." [ New York Times ]

• "It was the biggest one-day point decline for the Dow since Sept. 17, 2001, when the market reopened for trading after having been closed in the aftermath of 9/11 terrorist attacks." [ CNN Money ]

• Oh and some kind of creepy Catholic (?) pizza-money group caused the entire collapse and some internut predicted this would all happen today, or something. Creepy! [ Gawker ]