James Sweet wrote:

GE used to make really top notch stuff, sometime back in the 70's though
they started getting cheaper and at some point they passed a point of no
return. Today for the most part, GE is junk, the once renowned name is
forever tarnished.

Back in the '60s (and possibly earlier) GE was a innovator in production
shortcuts. Since they also developed and manufactured electron tubes
and plastics, they took advantage of it in their consumer product
development. Their TVs were the first with polarized power cords,
presumably to assure acceptable performance.