The United States lost a modest number of manufacturing jobs in May, prompting the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) to rip the federal government for ignoring the problem. “We need sustained investments in infrastructure, innovation, education, and a rebuilding of manufacturing,” the organization said in a press release, “but instead all we see is a blind obsession with the federal deficit.”

Give the AAM credit for itemizing its ideas for a national strategy; you can read that plan at tinyurl.com/3vznj6a. Notice, however, that tax credits and federal loan guarantees are part of the plan.

Really? Instead of taming the deficit, we should hand out more money to manufacturers?

A breathtaking slide in U.S. manufacturing jobs began in the first term of President George W. Bush, and the continued thrashing of the global economy means this is a tough time to fix anything overnight.

We need bipartisan efforts to fine-tune our regulations, but we don’t need over-the-top revamping.

In manufacturing, as in all endeavors, the situation continually changes. The Boston Consulting Group recently pointed out that as China’s wages quickly rise, Chinese-made products will become more expensive.

The report notes that U.S. manufacturing grew at an estimated annual rate of 9.1 percent in the first quarter of this year, and singles out some signs of change:

• Caterpillar Inc., which has a major presence in China, is building its next plant to make excavating equipment in Texas.

• Ford Motor Co. is bringing back 2,000 jobs from China after reaching an agreement with the United Auto Workers.

• NCR Corp. has brought its production of automated teller machines back from China to shrink the time from production to market, to stitch divisions closer together and lower operating costs.

Maybe it’s not the end of the manufacturing world after all.