I take back everything I’ve ever said about the previous bubble being caused by lenders making loans without real possibility of being paid back. I was clearly too harsh. Sears is going to try boosting retail sales by advertising that they don’t care if they get paid back. Bloomberg reports Sears to Let Jobless Stop Payments, Still Keep Fridge:

Sears Holdings Corp., the largest U.S. department-store chain, will let customers who lose their jobs suspend payments and keep appliances bought with store credit cards in an effort to bolster sales in the recession.

Customers who spend at least $399 on appliances and related merchandise between July 6 and Aug. 1 will have one-twelfth of the purchase price credited to their account for every month they are out of work, said Larry Costello, a company spokesman. Those who are jobless for more than a year will have the full debt forgiven, he said. The offer period may be extended, he said.

See, people will buy these appliances, which will spur economic growth, which will cause them to keep their jobs, so we won’t have to worry about them not paying. This sounds familiar…

The debt-forgiveness trial follows offers by carmakers allowing buyers who lost their jobs to stop payments. In January, Hyundai Motor Co. began offering the option of returning vehicles and abdicating some loan payments without penalty. General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. subsequently introduced similar programs.

“It is much different than the Hyundai-GM-Ford models that we’ve all seen out there, in that you keep the appliance,” Brown said. “We’re the only ones with a program of this kind in this industry.”

Ok, it’s not quite the same as the logic used by the automakers. But I could swear I’ve seen this logic before…

Citigroup Inc.’s credit-card unit is managing the program.

That explains everything! I don’t see how this could possibly fail. Note, this statement is not sarcastic, as Citigroup is Too Big To Fail. Sears gets their money, the customers get their appliances, Citigroup can invent new methods of accounting or receive even more money from the government, and everyone is happy. Nobody loses. Ok, now I’m being sarcastic.

(via The Economic Populist)