Debt-service ratios are lower, and their liquidity ratio the ratio of short-term assets to liabilities is historically high.

ECONOMIST: On the brink of recession?

Naturally there are many other things to consider, like the nature of the assets and liabilities, whether the company is currently making profits or losses, and the ratio of its liabilities to its equity.

FORBES: The Importance of Book Value

Problems may be worse for smaller companies and the subsidiaries of foreign firms, where pension funds usually have a lower ratio of assets to liabilities, says Stephen Yeo of Watson Wyatt.

ECONOMIST: Company pension funds are being saved from destruction

Leverage is the ratio of capital to liabilities (or to assets perhaps) but it is not, never has been and never will be any ratio of assets to umm, assets, as is being claimed here.

FORBES: Gordon Brown Should Demand an Apology From the Washington Post: He's Been Made to Look Like an Idiot