"Live Now — Pay Later" from the January 1958 Argosy The July 1958 issue of Argosy Magazine ran "Live Now—Pay Later" by Carlton Brown, capturing the moment America gleefully abandoned its Puritan thrift hangover for installment plans. By 1958, Brown reports, between 60 and 75 percent of new cars and half of major household appliances were being bought on time, with deferred payments hitting roughly $40 billion — nearly 13 percent of every worker's after-tax income. He profiles a New Orleans bond clerk who, after his honeymoon, put $1,500 down on a $15,000 house and financed $1,500 of furniture, a $300 TV, a $400 washer-dryer, two air conditioners, a $300 mink jacket for his bride, and a second honeymoon — all on $100 a week. His budgeting secret? They'd given up smoking. Harvard economist Sumner H. Slichter cheered the trend, calling debt "a stabilizing and stimulating influence" especially good for young married men.…