Does America need a new retirement system?

No good deed goes unpunished.

That’s what unemployed Boston salesman Paul Escobar could be thinking. He’d been paying dutifully into his job’s 401(k) plan, and was hands-on with his allocation, putting a lot of his money in equities.

As of today, no surprise, he’s lost 45 percent of his balance — and he’s lost his job, too. In hopes of recovering losses, “I've definitely been rebalancing my allocations,” says the 42-year-old. He also says that he’s not opposed to using some other savings vehicles, like a variable life insurance policy.

At the same time, Escobar doesn’t think the 401(k) system is inherently flawed, nor does he welcome any reform to the way Americans save for retirement — especially one that would involve government intervention.

“I don’t want to be forced to save with anyone other than myself as the ‘decider,’” Escobar says. “I’ll choose where to get my personal guarantee on benefits.”

It’s a dilemma: We may need help, but we don’t necessarily trust someone else to save us. A rash of recent surveys shows many people are sending out distress calls regarding their retirement savings, especially when it comes to 401(k)s.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute, a research group supported by both business and labor, recently released its annual Retirement Confidence Survey, which found that only 13 percent of respondents said they felt they have enough money for a comfortable retirement — down from 27 percent in 2007. Transamerica’s recent retirement survey found that 37 percent of respondents now plan to work past age 70 and perhaps never retire. A Barclays Global Investors study found that 90 percent said they wanted a 401(k) to offer a guaranteed retirement income.

Dallas Salisbury, president of the EBRI, isn’t surprised — but he’s still skeptical.

“People now put a high priority on a guaranteed retirement income,” he says, “but surveys say they want to get it as long as they don’t give up anything — as in access to that money and power over it.”

Indeed, put the words “401(k)” and “guaranteed income” in the same sentence, and you quickly get a hot debate going among any number of retirement experts and lawmakers along the political spectrum. Some says 401(k)s are being criticized unfairly in this unprecedented  economic crisis, while others say the downturn proves that 401(k)s were never meant to be anyone’s primary source of retirement savings.

Should we be rethinking our retirement savings system?

“It’s time to have a campaign like we’ve had in health care in this country,” says Karen Friedman, policy director of the consumer advocacy group the Pension Rights Center, “We need to recognize a basic American ideal that everybody should be able to retire and make ends meet.”

Here are some ideas circulating from those who hope to strengthen — or completely rebuild — the way we approach retirement:

• Make 401(k) plans automatic. Most people agree that, given enough time, 401(k) accounts can recover from market losses. What’s impossible, however, is building more savings if you don’t save enough to begin with.

In his 2010 budget blueprint, President Barack Obama called for requiring existing 401(k) programs to be automatic — as in, once you start working for a company that has a 401(k) or similar program, you’ll be enrolled, unless you make it a point to opt out. Meanwhile, companies that don’t offer a 401(k) plan (and have at least 25 employees) would have to set aside funds for employees in individual retirement accounts. On top of that, the government would offer a roughly $500 tax credit for many middle-income workers.

What critics say: While everyone agrees that people should save more, forcing them to do so pushes political buttons. “Mandating participation is a high hurdle,” says Salisbury of the EBRI.

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