"Now everybody can own a car! Come and get 'em while we got 'em!" blared a Manhattan newspaper ad last week. In Chicago, Hotpoint advised its appliance dealers: "Be first to advertise and promote a no-down and easy-payment plan . . . Change your ads to scream 'NO DOWN PAYMENT.' " One Los Angeles merchant was so carried away that he posted a "NO CASH DOWN— SIX MONTHS To PAY" sign over some $3.95 shirts.
What provoked the uproar was the Federal Reserve Board's decision to abolish Regulation W, the control measure which fixed minimum down payments and installments on...
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