“Top government officials have begun a calibrated campaign to bring attention to corporate pension plans, which they say may be on a road to collapse. But underneath their measured words are proposals that could fundamentally change the $1.6 trillion industry, altering the way pension money is set aside and invested,” writes Mary Williams Walsh in today’s New York Times.

“On Wednesday, the comptroller general placed the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the agency that guarantees pensions, on a list of “high risk” government operations. Elaine L. Chao, the secretary of labor, issued a statement on the same day warning that the decades-old system in which workers earn government-guaranteed pensions ‘is, unfortunately, at risk.’ “

“Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, a former railroad chief executive who had responsibility for a $1.3 billion pension fund, warned recently that a financial meltdown similar to the savings-and-loan collapse of 1989 might be brewing.”

“Steven Kandarian, the executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, gave a speech earlier this month in which he foresaw a possible ‘general revenue transfer’ — polite words for a bailout of the agency. Before being named to head the agency, Mr. Kandarian was a founding partner and managing director of the private equities firm of Orion Partners.”

“While officials want to underscore the dangers to retirement benefits that millions of Americans count on, they do not want to frighten consumers, roil financial markets or anger the companies that already put billions of dollars into the system.”

“But some pension analysts, reading between the lines, say they think that officials are not only looking at calling upon companies to put more money into their ailing pension plans — a painful prospect at a time when cash is tight — but also at the more radical remedy of encouraging funds to reduce their heavy reliance on the stock market.”

“At issue are defined-benefit pensions, the type in which employers set aside money years in advance to pay workers a predetermined monthly stipend from retirement until death. Today, about 44 million private-sector workers and retirees are covered by such plans. Three years of negative market forces have wiped away billions of dollars from the funds, triggering the defaults of some pension plans and leaving the rest an estimated $350 billion short of what they need to fulfill their promises.”