Borrowings and Bank Deposits (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	Jun. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011 US Commercial Paper [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 US Commercial Paper [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Non US Commercial Paper [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Non US Commercial Paper [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Current Portion Of Long Term Borrowings [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Current Portion Of Long Term Borrowings [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 GE Interest Plus notes [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 GE Interest Plus notes [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Other Short Term Borrowing [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Other Short Term Borrowing [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Short-term Debt [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 Short-term Debt [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Senior unsecured notes [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Senior unsecured notes [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Subordinated notes [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Subordinated notes [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Subordinated Debt [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Subordinated Debt [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Other Long Term Borrowing [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Other Long Term Borrowing [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Long-term Debt [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Long-term Debt [Member]
Borrowings And Bank Deposits [Line Items]
Short-term borrowings (Note 6)	$ 119,796	$ 136,333	$ 33,591	$ 33,536	$ 10,569	$ 9,519	$ 82,650	$ 67,107	$ 8,474	$ 8,545	$ 1,049	$ 1,089	$ 136,333	$ 119,796
Long-term borrowings (Note 6)	225,539	234,391													203,037	210,154	4,889	4,862	7,113	7,215	10,500	12,160	225,539	234,391
Non Recourse Borrowings Of Consolidated Securitization Entities	30,696	29,258
Bank deposits (Note 6)	41,942	43,115
Total borrowings and bank deposits	$ 417,973	$ 443,097