31.   But union leaders said it helped fix a basic inequity in the pension system.

32.   Chirac questioned how the government was handling crime, unemployment and the pension system.

33.   Chileans trust the pension system because of the high returns it has offered.

34.   Consumers face new tax increases for the public pension system and for medical insurance, which should also hold back spending.

35.   Continental Europeans feel much the same about their pension systems, which eliminated one of the main causes of social insecurity in the first half of the century.

36.   Critics maintain that, in its zeal to catch malingerers, the pension system sometimes defies logic.

37.   Despite calls for a major overhaul, the congressional pension system has survived the drive to shrink federal spending.

38.   Donlan provides readers with an excellent overview of the private and public pension systems and the largely untold story of the gloomy future they face.

39.   During his campaign, George W. Bush offered just such a proposal, becoming the first presidential candidate to propose so radical an alteration of the national pension system.

40.   Economists estimate that the public pension system may be severely underfunded.