OHH NICE--O-BUMMER-Coming into office, Obama st

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OHH NICE--O-BUMMER-Coming into office, Obama stated that he would cut the $1.3 trillion deficit he inherited in half by the end of his first term. Instead, he has incurred more debt than all U.S. presidents combined, with the national debt averaging $19.3 trillion.

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Like a lot of conservatives do, you've conflated/confused national debt with budget deficits.

In the face of TARP, the auto bailouts, and the huge surge in unemployment benefits and SNAP, there was no way that Obama would promise anything RE the national debt. Neither would an incoming Republican president.

Exigencies of the worst recession since the Great Depression, ya know?

The promise was RE the budget deficit, reduced as promised largely because of those 70 + months of new job creation, and resultant increased tax revenues.

Promise kept:

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At a union rally on Labor Day, Obama declared "We cut our deficits by more than half."

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Our rating

The numbers back up Obama’s claim: Thanks to income tax revenues rising and spending on emergency assistance dropping, America’s deficit has fallen by more than 50 percent from its highest point since World War II to a level $733 billion lower.

The growth in the deficit from 2007 to 2009 was due mainly to factors related to the Great Recession, said Goldwein. Tax collections fell as people lost jobs and corporate profits dropped; spending on food stamps and other aid programs rose with increased need; stimulus and tax break legislation passed, as did bailouts of financial firms.

"The economic recovery, wind-down of stimulus, reversal of TARP/Fannie transactions, and lower interest rates are really what has caused our deficit to fall so much," Goldwein told us. He mentioned cuts in discretionary spending as well.

We rate the claim True.

http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statement...icit-half/

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