Dow Crashes 500 Points as McCain Claims Economy "Fundamentally Sound" (9/16/08)

As Wall Street mainstay Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and the stock market suffered its biggest collapse since 9/11, Republican presidential candidate John McCain again insisted the economy was strong. At a campaign stop in Florida, McCain said "the fundamentals of the American economy are strong," even as the Dow Jones was in the process of losing 504 points.

The brutal day on Wall Street comes a week after a Department of Labor report that U.S. joblessness has hit 6.1 percent, the worst since 2003.

"McCain continues to show that he is out of touch with the economic crisis we are facing, and that his administration would simply continue the failed policies of the Bush Administration," said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum. "As the economy flounders, McCain says everything is fine. That's the kind of "Straight Talk" American workers can see through."