■"As Boomers Retire, a Debate: Will Stock Prices Get Crushed? Prof. Siegel Says Only Asia Can Stop a U.S. Meltdown," by E.S. Browning, Wall Street Journal, 5 May 2005, p. A1.

Interesting fear: boomers retire and start using up all those 401Ks, so stock markets starved for new investment flows. What to do?

One guy, Robin Brooks at the IMF says, don't worry. "He thinks the wealthy individuals who own a large percentage of U.S. stock won't need to sell, and companies may boost dividends so retiree investors can hang on to their shares."

Jeremy Siegel, mr. long-term-stocks-as-the-preferred-investment (Wharton School), now turns tail on the subject. Apparently his long-term vision didn't include the possibility of boomers retiring. Hmmm. Not sure how to interpret his expert opinion now.

But Siegel offers hope as well: get all those Indians and Chinese to invest in American stocks!

Geez! I thought China was going to have all those extra males hanging around, unable to get dates or wives or just plain laid now and then, so the country would have to go to war with the U.S. Now, we seem to need those working investors just as much as China's aging population itself does. All those single-child sons are getting to seem pretty important for global stability! "Little emperors," hell! These guys will turn out to be Big Investors!