Where's my pension?

This morning I was reading on the paper, that the number of underfunded pension plans spiked.  Although not new, it feels actually more real when the news report it.  I have mentioned in at least one of my blogs that the market is bound for low performance at best for the next 10 to 15 years.  What this means is that companies that are not careful (may I say most of them) will go further in the hole.  The way it works is that companies invest the money allocated for this purpose and then make projections based on the historical performance of the market.  Problem is that their assumptions are too inflated, most companies are counting on the stock market to return 7 to 8% annualy.  While this is possible, it is not likely, and as a matter of fact it is very improbable in the next 10 to 15 years.  I'm affraid there will be some legal fights before companies are obligated to meet their responsibilities.  Honestly I think the way we are headed is the situation where almost all employes are contract workers, and companies do not have to carry the liability of big pensions and other after-retirement benefits.