Obama’s debt not No. 1

In May, Sean Hannity stated on Fox Radio that “President Obama has increased the federal debt more than all the other presidents combined.”

That’s not just a lie, that’s a bold-face lie. The government website treasurydirect.gov shows Obama inherited a $10.6 trillion federal debt from the Bush years and, as of May 2011, the debt was $14.3 trillion. A recent study of the major networks found Fox News put out the most misinformation and told the most lies.

President George W. Bush inherited a balanced budget, a $238 billion surplus and a federal debt of $5.6 trillion, but with the Republican-controlled Congress, the debt almost doubled to $10.6 trillion due to an unfunded trillion-dollar prescription drug program (Part D Medicare) and two unfunded trillion-dollar wars. (First time our country didn’t pay for wars.)

President Obama inherited from the Bush Years a $1.2 trillion deficit for his first year in office, a severe recession with job losses of 700,000 a month, and a country so bankrupt that for every dollar the government spends, 40 cents (40 percent) has to be borrowed (mostly from the Chinese).

Larry L. Whitesitt

Fairfield