We know it’s crazy to imagine, but there was once a time when the equipment you financed played as big of a role in the structure of a deal as the rate or term. We know, shocking.

More recently, interest rates have been held artificially low through nearly 20 years of one remarkable economic circumstance after another, and when cash reserves are plentiful and lenders by the handful are all too eager to offer super cheap money, structured lease economics become an exercise in futility. Add in the painful extraction of off-balance sheet benefits and voilà: money-over-money deals rule the day for years on end.