claim: when obama took office "the economy of the united states was actually shrinking for the first time in about 70 years."
author: tim kaine
evidence_1: politifact virginia on monday, october 15th, 2012. mostly false. update:  readers point out better numbers. tim kaine · when obama took office "the  economy of the united states was actually shrinking for the first time in about 70  years." — politifact national on friday, november 5th, 2010. page 1 of 1.  advertisement ...
evidence_2: apr 6, 2016 ... but during obama's time in office, the number of people living in the u.s. illegally  has actually declined, according to independent estimates by ... it's now 2.8  percentage points lower than it was in january 2009, when the president first  took office in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the great ...
evidence_3: jan 20, 2015 ... economists told us this is a valid way of analyzing the deficit, because it factors in  the economy's change over time. ... also, some economists we consulted pointed  out that the 2009 fiscal year was obama's first year in office, and so not  necessarily a good starting point since he had little control over the ...
evidence_4: debt is typically a major campaign issue in elections from the municipal level all  the way up to the office of the president of the united states. ... influence the debt,  and certainly (barring a radical change in current circumstances) the increase  reported for barack obama would be considerably higher by the time he left  office.
evidence_5: jul 11, 2011 ... democrats roar that president obama inherited a catastrophic economic mess,  that this mess will take time to clean up, and that our massive deficit is therefore  president ... and then president bush handed president obama the worst  recession in more than 70 years and left obama to clean up the mess.