Sound fundamentals

For the last several months, I have heard our President and others saying that despite the instability of the stock market, there are "sound fundamentals" of our economy. I want to question that claim.

How can a consumer economy be fundamentally sound?
It is built on wants rather than needs, which can be redirected, or restricted at any time. Furthermore, a consumer economy is, almost by definition, an environmentally destructive economy. As far as I understand, the vast majority of consumable goods are not recyclable, and those that are require further energy resources to recycle. For those two reasons (among others) I cannot understand the claim that our economy is fundamentally sound.

How can a debt-driven economy be fundamentally sound?
All eyes are on the lenders (including the Federal Reserve) as a measure of our economic health because a fundamental assumption of our society is that high rates of lending (regardless of the interest rates) are marks of a healthy economy. One only needs to glance at the mortgage industry to see that this is a flawed assumption. If one looks at how over-stretched the general public is (not to mention businesses) in its borrowing, it is clearly unsustainable. Or is that only clear to me?