3/26/2012 6:16 PM ET

By Robert Powell, MarketWatch.com

With many Americans short of the savings they'll need to retire comfortably, the forecast looks grim. These are some of the areas were action is clearly needed.

President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union speech back in January, didn't really touch on the subject near and dear to the hearts of millions of Americans -- the state of retirement in the U.S.

No doubt he had other pressing matters to address. So allow us the pleasure of issuing -- thanks in large part to many experts on the topic -- our state of retirement column.

In short: Things are bad and, in the absence of action or in the presence of ill-advised action, they could get much worse.

"I think the state of retirement in America is endangered, as the Great Recession has taken a toll on the financial status of many and as retirement savings were not adequate for many prior to the Great Recession," said Matthew Greenwald, the president of Matthew Greenwald & Associates, a leading retirement-research firm.

See more here:
Retirement rescue needed