Yes, the Netherlands has plans of this type in place, particularly in the industrial sector. They have three major industry-wide plans where the risk is borne by all companies operating in that industry, but the specific sectors are determined by government. So, such plans are already in effect. They are all defined benefit plans as well, but the number or volume is such that there is much better risk management. Those plans came out of the crisis in better shape than many of our major defined benefit plans, because the administration and governance of these large plans is not handled by the companies themselves—it's a model somewhat similar to that of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, where the entire education sector is grouped together under an industry-wide model, with governance of the plan being handled completely independently of both employees and employers.
On November 19th, 2009. See this statement in context.