Yesterday, after the Dow Jones suffered the worst one-day point drop since 1987 — falling 733 points or nearly 8 percent — Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) met for their third and final presidential debate. The same day, Commerce Department figures showed that consumer purchases “fell 1.2 percent in September, extending the decline to three straight months, the first time that’s happened since comparable records began in 1992.” Searching for a “game-changer” this week, McCain announced new economic policies that he touted as being aimed toward the middle class but in fact largely focus their benefits on the wealthy. Once again, McCain failed to mention the “middle class” a single time during the entire 90-minute debate, though he did reference Joe the Plumber 20 times.

From The Progress Report