Attention market bears: Liz Ann Sonders is bullish onAmerica.

Charles Schwab & Co.'s chief investment strategist has beentelling investors lately that the U.S. is truly undergoing amanufacturing and energy renaissance, particularly in recentlydepressed Midwestern states such as North Dakota, Sonders said ina keynote address on Tuesday before theFinancial Planning Association's New York chapter.

“Someone asked me in a Q&A, 'What's your favorite emergingmarket?' and 'Middle America' was what came out of my mouth,” saidSonders at FPA-New York's annual summit. “Now when I'm asked what'smy favorite emerging market, I answer Middle America.”

Thanks to this renaissance, U.S. is “not just paper wealth”anymore, she said, predicting that U.S. household net worth wouldhit an all-time high in 2013.

For every 100 jobs created in petroleum refining, another 1,190additional related jobs are created, Sonders noted. Further, sherecalled a recent trip to China, where several representatives ofthe American Chamber of Commerce in China told her: “We think overthe next 10 years, we'll be bringing our business back to theU.S.”

The Boston Consulting Group has been at the forefront ofpredicting this trend, Sonders said, with its publication of“Made in America, Again: Why Manufacturing WillReturn to the U.S.” two years ago. Boston Consulting believesthat China's once-overwhelming manufacturing-cost advantage overthe United States is eroding fast.

U.S. strengths include a high rate of productivity, the rule oflaw, relatively cheap real estate, low transport costs and low-costenergy, and restrained labor costs versus emerging-market wageincreases, Sonders noted. “It's an unbelievably powerful trend,”she said.

Even though U.S. wage increases are weak, consumer spending isup 3.5%, at 71% of GDP, because households have been deleveragingover the last five years, Sonders said. Americans can afford tospend again, she said, adding that the bull market in U.S. stocksalso has been going on for the last five years.

“It is shocking that four years into a bull market we still havemassive outflows out of equity. I'm amazed at how much skepticismI'm still met with after four years,” Sonders said. “I'm not apermabull, but I'm optimistic. At conferences, almost all thequestions are bearish. I love that because I'm a contrarian.”

This article was originally posted at AdvisorOne.com, a sister siteof Credit Union Times.