"Pants On Fire" Romney- U.S. is "only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy.”

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http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jun/02/mitt-romney/mitt-romney-says-us-only-inches-away-ceasing-be-fr/

In his June 2, 2011, presidential announcement at a farm in Stratham, N.H., Mitt Romney made a bold claim about the state of the American economy.

"Government under President Obama has grown to consume almost 40 percent of our economy," he said. "We are only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy."

At PolitiFact, we tolerate a bit of hyperbole from politicians on all sides when they’re trying to make a point. But we think the underlying question -- whether the United States could really be approaching socialism -- is a fair one to analyze.

So we looked into the data and consulted an ideologically diverse group of economists and business experts. Our conclusion? Romney’s suggestion that the U.S. is in danger of losing its free market heritage is so far off base that it's ridiculous.