ENR's recent special report on individual surety suggests that an overhaul of individual-surety asset rules is needed now more than ever. The Security in Bonding Act, which passed the House last year but died in the Senate, has been resubmitted to the House by Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.), and Congress soon will have another chance to make certain that surety guarantees pledged on federal projects are backed by legitimate, easy-to-verify assets.

The U.S. has seen enough mystifying complexity in securities in recent years to learn that, in financial matters, transparency is a necessity, not just a virtue.