Trump Responds to Obama's Presidents Day Tweet, Calls it a 'Con Job'

President Donald Trump responded to President Barack Obama's tweet on Presidents Day by calling it a "con job" and attacking his predecessor's record on the economy.

"Eleven years ago today, near the bottom of the worst recession in generations, I signed the Recovery Act, paving the way for more than a decade of economic growth and the longest streak of job creation in American history," Obama had written on Twitter.

Formally known as The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the stimulus package sought to heal the damage to America's economy wrought during the Great Recession, which was sparked by the financial crisis.

It was the deepest and longest recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s, which was also triggered by a financial crisis—the Wall Street Crash. The Obama-led recovery was slow and many economic indicators did not reach their pre-recession levels for several years.

"Did you hear the latest con job? President Obama is now trying to take credit for the Economic Boom taking place under the Trump Administration," Trump tweeted on Monday in response to Obama's tweet.

"He had the WEAKEST recovery since the Great Depression, despite Zero Fed Rate & MASSIVE quantitative easing. NOW, best jobs numbers ever.

"Had to rebuild our military, which was totally depleted. Fed Rate UP, taxes and regulations WAY DOWN. If Dems won in 2016, the USA would be in big economic (Depression?) & military trouble right now. THE BEST IS YET TO COME. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!"

When Obama took office in January 2009, he inherited an economy that had declined by 8.4 percent the previous quarter, according to Federal Reserve data. When he left in January 2017, the economy was growing at an annual rate of 2 percent.

The Federal Reserve has kept interest rates low and, to support the financial system, had a massive program to buy U.S. Treasurys—American government bonds—from banks, known as quantitative easing.

The Fed slashed interest rates to historic lows during the crash to stave off a depression, but, as the recovery cemented itself over time, has elevated them slightly under Trump and also ended its easing program.

Trump, Obama's successor in the White House, has overseen a period of robust economic growth, the rate of which peaked at 3.5 percent in the second quarter of 2018, though it has slowed to 2.1 percent in the final three months of last year.

The president's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017 cut a whole range of corporate and individual taxes. He argued they would pay for themselves by powering economic growth.

Instead, the federal deficit has bloated past $1 trillion and evidence suggests little impact on growth.

A Congressional Research Service analysis of Trump's tax cuts published last year noted there was a "relatively small (if any) first-year effect on the economy" and its impact on investment "may raise questions about how much longer-run growth will result from the tax revision."

On employment, Fed data shows steady and sustained growth in nonfarm payroll numbers—which account for around 80 percent of American workers—since 2010 as the U.S. began to emerge from the crisis.

It surpassed its January 2008 pre-crisis peak in May 2014 and has continued growing since, under both Obama and Trump.

A 2019 discussion paper for the London-based Centre for Economic Policy Research, a network of academics, concluded that Trump's impact on the performance of the American economy was "negligible."

"Neither do we measure an exceptional output performance, nor do other important macroeconomic indicators suggest that the U.S. economy is doing particularly well because of Trump," the economists wrote.

"At this point we conclude that President Trump largely inherited the 'greatest economy ever'," they continued, adding "we also note that there is no evidence to date that President Trump caused a deterioration of macroeconomic performance."