Recently, Schwab’s Liz Sonders commented that her favorite emerging market was Middle-America. Ms. Sonders believes that the resurgence of American manufacturing, the expansion of fracking in the natural gas industry and the re-emergence of a strong housing market are all expected to contribute to a re-awakening of the rust belt.
Ms. Sonders went on to say that for every 100 jobs created in the petroleum industry, nearly 1,200 are created in the downstream economy. Both the Boston Consulting Group and Ms. Sonders have noted that China’s manufacturing advantage over the United States has been detoriating, fast. U.S. strengths include a high rate of productivity, the rule of law, relatively cheap real estate, low transport costs, low-cost energy and restrained labor costs (compared to abroad). Many U.S. manufacturers who shifted production to China are now looking at moving it back to the U.S.
