In some key ways, the Donald Trump economy, on fire last year but slowing this year, is starting to resemble the one he inherited from his predecessor . There are the rock-bottom bond yields, plodding economic growth and, not to be understated, the Federal Reserve seemingly pulling all the strings, a role that was only exacerbated in the days since the financial crisis and Great Recession and continues to the present day. Those similarities came into even sharper focus this week, when the benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield fell below 2% for the first time since Trump became president, and the Fed's indication, if something just short of an outright promise, that it soon will be cutting rates about half a year since its most recent hike. It wasn't supposed to be this way: The 2017 tax cut and aggressive moves toward deregulation were supposed to pull the U.S. economy out of its glacial move higher. That happened in 2018, but policymakers and Wall Street pros are growing increasingly fearful that a slowdown if not outright recession is on the horizon, and the Fed is being asked again to ride to the rescue.

"You're sort of the same in terms of growth prospects, but not necessarily in the complexion of it," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. "In 2012, 2013, you still had the scars of the great financial crisis. Now those scars have been completely forgotten. Years and years of what the Fed has done I think have brainwashed them to think they can take care of everything." The Fed may not be able to fix everything, but in Trump's view the central bank is at the core of what's gone wrong. Had the Fed not been so aggressive in raising rates, the president has insisted, the economy would be doing much better. Since Trump took office, the Fed has enacted seven rate hikes, including four in 2018. There were only two increases during Barack Obama's administration, with one coming after the 2016 election.

Different circumstances, similar results