It actually is a plan that has been proposed before–and pitched again twice in the past week–by professors Glenn Hubbard and Chris Mayer of Columbia University and Marty Feldstein of Harvard University. It also resembles a plan proposed by Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut in March to auction off mortgages and allow them to be refinanced by the Federal Housing Administration. The Frank-Dodd legislation would have given the FHA $20 billion to buy and refinance as much as $300 billion of mortgages. It was supported by New York Sen. Hillary Clinton during her primary campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

We’ll be learning more as the day goes on.