Another week, another company in big financial trouble and talk of yet another government bailout.

On Friday the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) announced that its deficit for this year nearly doubled to $22 billion. Since this is the government-chartered company that insures the pension plans of one out of seven American workers you should sit up and take notice. Even if you DON'T have a pension, listen up, because this problem could cost you dearly.

The PBGC is charged with being "the pension-payer of last resort" when a company can no longer make good on its promises to retirees. The money that the PBGC pays out comes from fees charged to companies offering pension plans, much like the premiums that you pay to insure your car and your property.

If a company gets into financial difficulty and can no longer make pension payments the PBGC steps in and picks up the slack. A plan would be deemed insolvent and ready for take over by the PBGC if its available financial resources are not sufficient to pay benefits when due for that plan year.

Obviously, the past year's economic woes and the need for PBGC to take on an additional 144 failed pension plans have sunk the PBGC into its current deficit. Couple that with losses in stock investments at both the PBGC and corporate pension plans and you have the perfect storm.

According to experts the future for the PBGC doesn't look all that bright unless Congress, which sets the size of the fees paid by businesses, raises the premiums on corporate plans. Adding to the problems, most pension plan assets continue to be invested in riskier assets. Another stock market decline such as 2008 will bring more plans to the brink and in need of help.

If you're looking forward to a pension when you retire you may think that you're okay no matter what happens to your company. But think again.

The PBGC's maximum guarantee for pensioners is $35.75 a month times the years of credited service. Without going into the complicated method of calculation, if you're anticipating or already receiving $2000 a month for 25 years of service, under the guarantee you will probably only receive roughly $894 ($35.75 X 25).

Oh goody! Now you'll be able to buy that Bentley!

How can you know how fiscally safe your pension is? If you are in a multi-employer plan through a union (as we are), you must receive notification of assets in the plan every year. But one-employer plans have no mandatory reporting to members placed upon them. That means you'll have to ask your benefits office for some idea of how well-funded your pension plan is.

Now we'll explain why non-pensioned workers and retirees should also pay attention to this latest PBGC news.

If laws aren't written to stop investment managers from taking risks with plan money and Congress doesn't stop kowtowing to business and labor groups by keeping premium costs to plan members too low, we could see a time in the not too distant future that brings about another government bailout to rescue the PBGC. Then ALL taxpayers will bear the burden.

It's not as if you needed another example of why Government shouldn't be in the business of guaranteeing private affairs. We've seen too many examples with Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac, the FHA, banks, insurance companies and car manufacturers. But the PBGC is a classic example of a bad government idea. The PBGC has been in the red for 29 years of its 35- year existence.

Maybe it's time to change their business plan.

As for you, make sure your retirement planning stays on track with these tips:

• Avoid These 7 Retirement Planning Mistakes
• Secrets to a Million Dollar Retirement
• How to Salvage Your Cracked Nest Egg

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