Excerpt: If you're flinching at the recent losses in your brokerage and 401(k) accounts, imagine how the managers of America's huge pension funds feel. The top 100 U.S. pension funds boasted a gargantuan $3.5 trillion in combined assets last September. Now, despite having fortified their reserves with huge stock-market gains in recent years, public and private pension funds are facing steep declines.  MORE >>