Obama says spending cuts could trigger second recession

President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he believes the US economy could lapse back into recession if government spending is cut too deeply.

Obama made the comment at a Facebook town hall, which he used to promote his proposals for reducing U.S. deficits. He said Republicans are too narrowly focused on spending cuts. Obama also said the lack of a serious plan to tackle US deficits could become a big drag on the economy if investors pull back. "If all we are doing is spending cuts, and we are not discriminating about it, if we are using a machete instead of a scalpel, and we are cutting out things that create jobs, then the deficit could actually get worse because we could slip back into another recession," he said.