I was surprised recently when a Singaporean businessman asked me not about reform of Social Security - the government-run pension system dominating Washington debate - but about reforms to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), which backs America's private defined benefit plans.

Sometimes it takes an outsider to see a problem clearly. The two issues are closely linked. First, both pension systems are underfunded. The Labor Department estimates that the shortfall in private defined benefit plans is $450bn. That is less than the estimated $11,000bn under-funding of Social Security, but it is hardly insignificant.