Obama unleashes big tweetstorm to show how much better the country is since he became president

Seven years ago, the US economy went into recession.

Lehman Brothers, the giant investment bank, collapsed after the housing-market crash came to a head.

A sharp plunge in the stock market followed.

The US economy's collapse came right in the middle of the 2008 presidential election, and Barack Obama was elected less than two months later with an imperative to turn things around.

Seven years later, he's arguing that he did.

As Congress squabbles over how to keep the government funded ahead of a September 30 deadline, Obama offered Tuesday a vehement defense of his economic record.

Obama argued against what he has referred to as "self-inflicted wounds" ahead of key deadlines to keep the government from shutting down, keep funding transportation and construction projects, and raise the nation's debt ceiling.

Here's a look at how Obama defended his record in a tweetstorm:

Hiring, which was declining when Obama took office, has picked up steadily. "When I took office, 800,000 Americans lost their jobs each month. Our businesses have now added 13.1 million jobs over 66 straight months," Obama said.

Obama's tweet.

Obama noted the unemployment rate has fallen dramatically from a high of 10% in October 2009 to just 5.1% now.

Source.

Obama didn't mention this, but since we're on the topic of jobs, wage growth has been somewhat disappointing. It hit a record low in the second quarter, and those urging the Federal Reserve to hold off on hiking interest rates have pointed to the lack of wage growth as a reason to proceed with caution.

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