I. The Sky Is Falling.

• Position: OFF THE NEWS

"Demographics, automation, and inequality have the potential to dramatically reshape our world in the 2020s and beyond. ...[T]he collision of these forces could trigger economic disruption far greater than we have experienced over the past sixty years. ...[T]he impact of aging populations, the adoption of new automation technologies and rising inequality will likely combine to give rise to new business risks and opportunities. These gathering forces already pose challenges for businesses and investors. In the next decade, they will combine to create an economic climate of increasing extremes but may also trigger a decade-plus investment boom.

"In the United States, a new wave of investment in automation could stimulate as much as $8 trillion in incremental investments and...