The New York Times, October 11, 2011, Tuesday

The New York Times

October 11, 2011, Tuesday

The New York Times (full article)

Laid Flat by Layaway

By Louis Hyman

IN another sign that the national economy is suffering through a rerun of the 1970s, Wal-Mart recently announced that it was bringing back its Christmas layaway program. Beginning on Oct. 17, shoppers who buy at least $50 worth of goods, put 10 percent down and pay a $5 fee will be able to pay for their purchases slowly over the next two months, all for the ostensible purpose of avoiding debt.

Wal-Mart’s press releases suggest that the restoration of the layaway program, which was discontinued in 2006, is meant to help its customers “budget” so that Christmas can be “worry-free.” The company is partly playing on the economic insecurity of its customers, and partly on the national nostalgia for the days before credit-card debt. But the truth is, the program is a bad deal for everyone — except Wal-Mart.

Louis Hyman is an assistant professor of history at Cornell and the author of “Debtor Nation: A History of America in Red Ink.”