Problem:
General Motors (perhaps I should now say "Government 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 kept any recent cash problem from arising, would have had the accounting virtue of assigning the costs to the right time periods, and possibly avoided the recent bailout/ bankruptcy scenario.
Did we get into this situation because:
Congress dropped the ball under ERISA (the Employee Retiree Income Security Act) and succeeding legislation;
The FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) didn't promulgate appropriate principles (I'll lump the SEC in here as well); or Corporate malfeasance?
Or is there more than enough blame to go around?
Clearly, there are other financial issues as well. Please feel free to comment on them.