It is a pity we are so good at spin. At churning out dense swirls of propaganda to blind folks to reality. We are expert at this unfortunate art. Our propaganda machines can turn spinach into filet mignon, sewage into Dom Perignon. And vice-versa.

This came to mind when the Democrats’ spin machine started up recently — and the liberal mass-media chorus began to chant in harmony: This current booming economy was actually just a continuation of Obama’s legacy. That is what they sang.

Next, the former president gave us his solo effort. Obama told us this surge in our economy began with him and his policies.

First, a note: You can search Obama’s writings. You can read all his interviews. I defy you to find anything that indicates he knows diddly-squat about economics. Diddly-squat minus ignorance squared. By his own comments over the years, one thing is clear: The guy simply knows nada about economics. Remember his boast that Trump would need a magic wand to bring back manufacturing jobs? That was enough to earn him a dunce cap.

I don’t hold that against him. I really don’t. Lots of presidents went to the same school as he did. A school that taught them nothing about economics.

Anyway, he added his exhalings to the fog of propaganda that the Left suddenly spewed. By the way, I am in no way ignoring that the Right exaggerates as well. Their propaganda machines are chugging away day and night. When elections are in sight the propagandists feast.

However, in this instance, the Right has a solid basis. Obama and the Left do not. Therein lies the pity. The pity being that people are swayed by propaganda. It is the misinformation that changes their attitudes and wins their votes. The propaganda, instead of something closer to reality.

Let us squeeze some of the puffery from both sides. Let us get down to a few basic ingredients. One is that the economy did poorly under Obama’s policies. Under the policies his advisers persuaded him to back. Sorry, it simply did perform poorly. For example, we suffered the worst recovery ever from a recession.

In Obama’s last year in the White House, the economy slowed each quarter. Think about that. By the time he left office, the economy was taking the gas.

Another ingredient is that extra taxes and additional regulations bog down economies. Especially when they are already crippled. We cannot deny that Obama’s policies clogged the economy with taxes and regulations. They simply did. At a time when it was gasping. The timing was horrible.

Another ingredient is that lowering taxes usually helps economies. Cutting regulations also usually helps economies. 

Another ingredient is that when we reduce government interference, economies like it.

The simple fact is that the current administration reversed the course the Obama administration had taken. Reversed it, in numerous ways.

A few simple facts: Markets immediately leapt upward. Optimism among investors shot upward immediately. Optimism among small-business owners (our great jobs creators) swelled. Consumer confidence soared.

We are dealing with basics here. Create obstacles for investment and risk-taking and you will slow your economy. Create incentives for them and you will stimulate your economy.

The communists of China could tell us that. They finally — after years of abysmal agriculture — allowed farmers to grow and market their own food. Suddenly, output rocketed.

I wish we could exterminate the propaganda. If we did, more people would see that some policies help our economy. And some policies dampen it.

It does not really matter which party brings forth the policies that help our economy. JFK, a Democrat, put forward tax policies not unlike the current policies. 

It is the damned fog of propaganda that keeps more of us from seeing what works — and what does not.

From Tom…as in Morgan.        

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home in upstate New York. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com, read more of his writing at tomasinmorgan.com, or find him on Facebook.

New York dairy farms produced 1.28 billion pounds of milk in August, up 1.7 percent from 1.26 billion in the year-ago period, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently reported.

Production per cow in the state averaged 2,055 pounds in August, up 2 percent from 2,015 pounds a year prior.

The number of milk cows on farms in New York state totaled 622,000 head in August, down from 624,000 head in August 2017, NASS reported.

The average milk price received by New York dairy farmers in July 2018 was $16.10 per hundredweight, down 80 cents from June 2018 and off $1.90 from July 2017.

In neighboring Pennsylvania, dairy farms produced 882 million pounds of milk in August, down 2.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the report.

ONONDAGA — Onondaga Community College (OCC) announced that the OCC Foundation has added the following new members to its board of directors.

• Rickey T. Brown, executive director for the Upstate Minority Economic Alliance.

• Terry Hopkins, community relations manager at C&S Companies.

• Jeff Knauss, co-founder of the Digital Hyve, a digital-marketing agency.

• Jonathan Parry, director of Genius NY, a business accelerator for unmanned aircraft systems.

• Ronald Belle, chief experience officer at AmeriCU Federal Credit Union.

• Alan Marzullo, business manager of IBEW Local 43 union.

OCC also announced that two OCC Foundation board members have been granted emeritus director status: James F. Holland, executive vice president for administration at SRC, Inc., who is immediate past president of the OCC Foundation; and Orrin B. (Mac) MacMurray, P.E., former chairman and CEO of C&S Engineers. MacMurray served on the foundation board for several years.

The OCC Foundation, founded in 1980, says it administers more than 150 scholarships and provides more than $200,000 in financial aid to students each year. 

New York winter-wheat production declined 22 percent to 6.56 million bushels in 2018 from 8.38 million bushels last year, the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently reported. The Empire State’s average yield, at 69 bushels per acre, rose 2 bushels from 2017. Area harvested for grain was estimated at 95,000 acres, down 24 percent from the previous year, NASS said.

U.S. winter-wheat production for 2018 totaled 1.18 billion bushels, down 7 percent from the 2017 national total of 1.27 billion bushels, according to the USDA. Yield, at 47.9 bushels per acre, fell 2.3 bushels from last year. Area harvested for grain was estimated at a record low 24.7 million acres, down 2 percent from the previous year, the agency noted.