Analyst Nicholas Heymann of Sterne Agee wrote: "Investors now understand that GE uses the last couple weeks in the quarter to 'fine-tune' its financial-service portfolios to ensure its earnings objectives are achieved. It turns out it really wasn't miracle management systems or risk-control systems or even innovative brilliance. It was the green curtain that allowed the magic to be consistently performed undetected."

Egan-Jones, an independent rating agency, calculates that GE is levered 10-to-1; the company's own figures put it at 8-to-1. Cofounder Sean Egan believes that, depending on off-balance-sheet holdings, actual leverage could be even higher. His firm rates the company single-A.

Between 2003 and today, GE’s long-term debt grew from $172 billion in 2003 to $381 billion by 2008’s first quarter - a 121% increase. Their long-term debt-to-equity ratio grew from 68% to 77%. Short-term debt grew from $157.4 billion in 2003 to $218.7 billion in the latest quarter, a 40% increase. The 70% increase in profits between 2003 and 2007 were undoubtedly juiced by the use of prodigious amounts of debt. Stockholders’ equity is at the same level as it was in 2004. With cash of only $59.7 billion and short-term debt of $218.7 billion, the freezing up of the credit markets has put GE at major risk when trying to rollover its debt.


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Minyanville Professor Mike Shedlock recently quoted a GE Capital insider as saying: "Sales personnel aren’t allowed to make any more loans this year, and are being told to try to get their customers to pay off their loans. All prepayment penalties are waved for closing loans and GE Capital is about to launch a new incentive scheme for the salespeople that makes it worth their while to get their customers to agree to participate."