The scandal beyond Enron: pension coverage is shaky and dwindling. Will Congress act? (Special Section: Retirement Insecurity).

THE ENRON IMPLOSION BRIEFLY FOCUSED PUBLIC attention on the vulnerability of ordinary Americans' pension coverage. But the remedial legislation passed by the Republican House actually makes workers even more vulnerable. The bigger scandal is not the occasional loss of entire retirement savings in cases such as Enron's but the inadequate coverage and systematic erosion of worker retirement benefits generally.

Real reform would not just safeguard retirement savings from Enron-style thefts but would broaden retirement savings, especially for those less affluent workers who ...