"Bradley Belt" is the former executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) in the United States, and an expert on retirement security and its impact on financial markets and the economy. He was appointed by President George W. Bush to replace Steven Kandarian and later resigned on March 23, 2006. He currently serves as the CEO for Palisades Capital and the managing director for the Milken Institute. Eisenhower Fellowships selected Bradley Belt as a USA Eisenhower Fellow in 1997. Belt was named one of SmartMoney's "Power 30" in finance and one of Workforce magazine's "10 Most Forward-Thinking Leaders in Workforce Management." He is currently Vice Chairman of Orchard Global Asset Management.

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Fuel, wages, health care, utilities and aircraft leases.

The problem will become much worse. To call upon taxpayers - most of whom don't have defined-benefit pensions - to pay for the benefits of those who do would be fundamentally unfair.

If those contributions are not made, workers and retirees will be placed at greater risk of losing promised benefits.

Despite a strong economy, pension plans are reporting even larger shortfalls than last year. Clearly we need new rules that will require companies to fund the pension promises they make.

The combination of rules allows companies to go for years on end without putting any money into their pension plans.

As long as companies remain in operation with ongoing pension plans, they have a legal obligation to meet their funding requirements.

Unfortunately, the financial health of the P.B.G.C. is not improving.

Nothing in the bankruptcy code requires companies to skip their pension funding payments.