In early 2010, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the number of private, single-employer defined benefit (DB) pension plans had fallen from approximately 92,000 in 1990 to just under 29,000 plans. In addition, the recent stock downturn left DB pension plans at the nation’s largest companies underfunded by $409 billion—erasing an estimated $60 billion pension surplus at year-end 2007... [692 word article, November 2009]