The stock market is in a bubble that is setting up for a major crash, with the Dow Jones industrial average likely to hit the 17,000 level within the next few weeks before plummeting to around 6,000 by 2016, author and market observer Harry S. Dent Jr. told CNBC on Monday.
"I think we see another correction, crash, that is larger than the last one," said Dent, author of "The Demographic Cliff," during an interview on "Closing Bell." "I think this will be the most dangerous period in people's lives in investing."
The fundamental problem plaguing global economies is a shift in demographics, Dent said. An aging work force will soon retire, outnumbering younger workers, thereby draining government entitlements, he said. Despite government stimulus, younger workers tend to spend less, too, Dent continued.
"Generations spend and then they don't," Dent said. "Governments are fighting that with massive stimulus, and it shows why the economy is so weak with so much stimulus. Demographics is the only way you can explain that."
—By CNBC's Drew Sandholm. Follow him on Twitter @DrewSandholm.