"Turning [our] attention from public pension funds -- which are suffering from underfunding and paltry rates of return -- to corporate pension funds, we find, well, a lot of the exact same problems. Defined-benefit pensions at S&P 500 companies reached a record underfunding level of $354.7 billion at the end of 2011, an increase of more than $100 billion from 2010 and surpassing the $308.4 billion record underfunding level set in 2008, according to a new study by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Underfunding for other post-employment benefits [such as retiree health care], or OPEBs, increased to $223.4 billion in 2011 from $210.1 billion in 2010."  MORE >>