The Trouble with Pensions: Toward an Alternative Public Policy to Support Retirement

摘要

Pension funds have taken a big hit during the current financial crisis, with losses in the trillions of dollars. In addition, both private and public pensions are experiencing significant funding shortfalls, as is the U.S. government's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which insures the defined-benefit pension plans of private companies. Retirees suffer not only because of underfunding but also as a result of the transition from defined-benefit to definedcontribution plans and the decline in the proportion of the workforce covered by pension plans. With little or no control over their pensions, workers must now assume almost the entire burden of saving for retirement.