A coalition of nonprofits recently put forth the “Retirement USA” initiative, which strives to define a new retirement and Social Security system that will provide universal, secure and adequate income for future retirees.

“The current private retirement system is failing most Americans. More than half have no employer-provided retirement plan, and most of those who do are woefully unprepared as they near retirement. 401ks can’t do the job,” insists Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute.

The converged groups — The Economic Policy Institute, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the Pension Rights Center, and the Service Employees International Union — formulated guiding principles of what the new system might look like and sought outside input by inviting others to submit proposals.

The plans will be examined at a major fall conference set to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Proposals will be uploaded onto the Retirement USA web site, where materials from last week’s launch also can be found.

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