NATION Is pension insurance 'high risk'?

Congressional investigators have classified the program as such.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
A pension crisis -- which is inviting comparisons to the massive savings and loan industry bailout of the late 1980s -- is coming to the forefront in Washington.
On Wednesday, congressional investigators designated the government-sponsored program that insures the pensions of 44 million private-sector workers as "high risk." The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. is running the highest deficit in the program's 29-year history.
The Bush administration pointed out this means the nation's private pension system needs major reforms.
As for the PBGC, "I don't see a taxpayer bailout," Assistant Secretary of Labor Ann Combs said in a telephone interview. However, "As [Treasury] Secretary [John] Snow has said and others, we've got some problems there that make us nervous, that look not unlike the S & amp;L crisis."
The PBGC has suffered a dramatic $15 billion downturn in its financial health since 2000, moving from a $9.7 billion surplus three years ago to a $5.4 billion deficit by last April.
Here's why
To blame is a surge in pension plan terminations, in which private companies that can't meet their pension obligations end their plans and turn over their pension assets to the PBGC. Executive director Steven A. Kandarian told Congress in April the PBGC will be responsible for paying almost $2.5 billion in benefits this fiscal year, up from $1.5 billion last year.
The program's money comes primarily from insurance premiums paid by employers.
The PBGC is paying 783,000 retirees.
The PBGC sees more trouble brewing, with an estimated $300 billion in underfunded pensions among the nation's corporations as of April.