General Motors had many financial problems. Clearly, the company had insufficiently funded reserves to pay for pensions.Full funding of these obligations as they were incurred would have: 1) kept any cash problems from arising; 2) had the accounting virtue of assigning the costs to the right time periods; and 3) possibly avoided itsbailout/ bankruptcy scenario.

Did GM get into this situation because:

1. Congress dropped the ball under ERISA (the Employee Retiree Income Security Act) and succeeding legislation;
2. The FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) didn't promulgate appropriate principles (I'll lump the SEC in here as well); or
3. Corporate malfeasance?

Or is there more than enough blame to go around?