The Last Temptation of Plastic

For the last two decades, layaway has been a relic, a vestige of a time when banks promoted Christmas savings clubs and a Depression ethos of thrift reigned. Instead of swiping a credit card and walking off with the goods, shoppers would put their objects of desire on hold until they paid for them.

Almost sounds like a novel idea: “Pay first. Buy later.”

Today, with the financial crisis worsening, the layaway sign has crept back into consumption culture.

More from the New York Times here.