We are now seeing news reports that retirement is about to become a thing of the past. If only out of economic necessity. Boomers can't afford to retire now that the market has damaged retirement savings.

But there is another more fundamental reason. The western world is perched precariously on a demographic fault line with the baby boomers about to exit the workforce. Starting from about fifteen months from now, the baby boom will start turning into a baby bust and that will produce a seismic transformation. If you don't think it's a problem, take a look at Japan. From 1994 to 2004, Japan's workforce contracted, going from 65 million workers to 63 million. At the same time, Japan has done nothing to turn that around by, for example, encouraging migration. The period also coincides with the malaise of the Japanese economy.

I look at these important issues in my column here.