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Showing Original Post only (View all)Viral Facebook post says Barack Obama has lowest spending record of any recent president [View all]
Source: PolitiFact
On May 22, 2012, Rex Nutting, the international commentary editor for the financial website MarketWatch, published a column titled, "Obama spending binge never happened." Nuttings column explored data on federal spending patterns during recent presidencies, concluding that -- contrary to the tax-and-spend stereotype of Democrats -- President Barack Obama has actually presided over the smallest increases in federal spending of any recent president.
The column went viral. Within hours, people who liked the column were posting a graphic on Facebook that paired a line from Nuttings column with a quote from Mitt Romneys campaign website.
Under the heading, "Romneys World," the Facebook post quoted a Romney Web page saying, "Since President Obama assumed office three years ago, federal spending has accelerated at a pace without precedent in recent history." (That accurately quotes Romney.)
Immediately to the right, under the heading, "Real World," the Facebook post provided a retort using a caption from Nuttings key chart: "Government spending under Obama, including his signature stimulus bill, is rising at a 1.4 percent annualized pace slower than at any time in nearly 60 years." (The post cited the quotation to the Wall Street Journal; technically, Nutting writes for MarketWatch, which is an affiliate of the Wall Street Journal.)
Read more: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/may/23/facebook-posts/viral-facebook-post-says-barack-obama-has-lowest-s/
Bottom line: The Facebook posts claim that government spending under Obama is "slower than at any time in nearly 60 years" is very close to accurate. ~PolitiFact