'Fundamentaly sound' - exposed

There has been much ado about those two words of late, but before people go off cocked (or half-cocked), it is of the utmost importance that we review the context in which these statements were made. The words were used basically three times, first-during the presidential campaign by John McCain, second this past week by President Barack Obama, and most recently by economic adviser Christina Romer on Meet the Press. Lets break down all three so we can all be clear about what was said, apparently using this same phrase.

As Senator McCain was campaigning, during one of his famous town-hall meetings, in an attempt to diminish the value of the imploding economy, he stated that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong". Taken at face value, in the context of his speech, it is clear that he meant the basic principles that support our economy are in good shape. That statement of course, is not entirely true. While there very well may have been some portions (such as the resolve of the American people, the willfullness of the American worker, or the indominable American spirit) that were ok, the basic fundamentals, that is those blocks that are (were) on the bottom were crumbling at best.

President Obama used the same words, but in a slightly different context. His statement came in the form of an If/Then statement, specifically IF we pay attention to those underlying building blocks that support our economy that are currently strong, THEN "we'll get through this"...clearly, not the same statement. Obama's statement is conditional.

Now, Christina Romer - "The fundamentals are sound in the sense that the American workers are sound, we have a good capital stock, we have good technology," she said. "We know that - that temporarily we're in a mess, right? We've seen huge job loss, we've seen very large falls in GDP. So certainly in the short run we're in a - in a bad situation." She clearly laid out and explained her answer as she made the statement, not as some post furor damage control. AND she used at least one of the same concepts McCain used when he did try to clean up the egg he laid.

In truth, these two words used together in a sentence have become taboo, at best they are capable of giving anyone a false sense that things just aren't that bad. At worst, they show how detatched the utterer may be from the crux of the issue at hand. Either way, the three statements are NOT the same.