Conflation

Oh, don’t run for the dictionary!  Conflation is a term that means – combining or confusing different entities due to common characteristics but losing the distinguishing features that truly separate them.  Conflation, not inflation or deflation. And please let us not confuse this if infatuation! The permutations stagger the mind!

So, conflation is the topic today. I mean this by way of the common mistake of news readers and spin masters combining issues as though they are the same or very similar when they are actually quite different and have no causal relationship with one another.

Take international trade. Goods being made outside of our borders and made available to us for prices much lower than we can buy them for when made within our borders. The price differential causes market dislocation. We end up buying the cheaper goods rather than our own. Conversely, our more expense goods sell poorly overseas because of the same principle. The only saving grace is when the goods are not equal; quality and features matter a lot in many applications, so some goods are bought at higher prices because they are worth the difference. Actually, the similar goods are not the same and are quite different. Thus the price differential.

American goods are more expensive due to our labor costs, taxes, tariffs and distribution costs. Not all of those costs are under the control of the manufacture. Some costs are placed on the product by government regulations which aim to protect consumers, quality standards and fair trade interests.

So, if you make products for world trade markets, make certain your product is innovative and unique before expecting a premium price at time of sale.

Loss of jobs to international markets? Yes; it happens. But why? It is not because of free trade or companies moving jobs overseas for tax advantages. I’m sure some of that happens, but let’s face it: American labor costs are generally too costly. Not in all cases, but in most run of the mill manufacturing scenarios it is true.

Rather than allow wages and salaries to rise unchecked, it might be better if profit sharing by employers with their employees would function better. Keep labor costs in check but allow employees to share in earnings of the company based on their contribution to the whole. This has been tried in some industries but not all. It works well in some cases, but not well in others. This area needs work and fine tuning.

Tool and Die making has mostly disappeared from America. It now resides mostly in China. Bringing it back home is not very likely. Besides, technology is driving major change in this industry specialty and the old tool and die making trades/skills/arts are disappearing in favor of on-line engineering and design using computers. 3-D printing is becoming so good it is actually challenging manufacturing of some goods.

3-D printing technology has not completed its development. Much remains to be done and expanded. DNA duplication is now being done and prosthesis body parts are being made that do not call forth immunosuppressant defenses. Imagine that! Amazing and stunning.

3-D printing technology is resident in Belgium and other parts of Europe but a mainstay here in the USA. That doesn’t mean it will remain here but the point is this: innovation is the king of the future. It always has been and most likely will remain so.

We should allow mundane manufacturing to go wherever it is cheapest. The higher economic good should remain as much in America as possible. This is where the future is built, invented and improved. If we retain this ability we will retain strong market dominance throughout the world.

Conflation – combining cheap labor with market dominance – doesn’t even enter the picture when viewed from this perspective.

There are other conflating issues that confuse the marketplace of ideas.  Morals and abortion? No way. How about foreign auto makers driving American manufacturers out of business. Nope. Our companies have expanded faster into foreign markets including buying out brands and building our own plants in other countries. Truly foreign content vehicles are more the standard these days. I’m not sure any vehicle is 100% made in the USA any longer. Anyone know that factoid?

Conflating issues is easiest for politicians. They make sound bite statements and mislead voters. Modern press outlets do little to combat these misstatements. So we are all left to our own resources to negate conflation.

I think it is simply a matter of basing our thinking on facts clearly available for checking.

Meanwhile we will let the pastors and theologians who want to mix it up with politics have their own war on facts and fancy. A lot of conflation comes from the non-provable discussions, anyway. Best to stay away from them entirely.

Find another reason to vote for a candidate than this scurrilous method.

April 21, 2016