The manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy took a big hit during the recession, but it appears to be making a comeback.

A recent story in Roll Call points out that the Commerce Department reports that the sector had recovered all the value lost in the recession. But there are still problems and underlying issues to address.

This week we had the opportunity to talk with Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) President Scott Paul on the show. We discussed the need to save and create U.S. manufacturing jobs and he explained why his organization is pushing President Obama  to get tough on China for its currency manipulation.

Bill Pugliano, Getty Images
Bill Pugliano, Getty Images
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Paul had a good handle on how important this issue is to our region:

"It's a core competency of Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. A lot of industries related to autos, aerospace...kind of bending metal, making parts. When you look broadly at manufacturing in America from 2000-2009, we lost 5.5 million manufacturing jobs. A lot of that was global competition from China and then the recession really turbocharged that loss. Since that time we've seen a bit of a rebound."

Here's the interview in full:

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