Noah Smith, chief advisor to the McCain campaign

Interesting fact: the McCain economic plan for government purchase of mortgages was suggested by me on 9/26.

Of course, that was when the main alternative was the original Paulson plan, in which the Treasury Secretary got unlimited money and unlimited legal authority to bail out his former colleagues in the investment banking industry by buying their toxic assets. And that was also before all the big stock market crashes forced the government to adopt a much more short-term-focused solution (bank nationalization).

But the McCain plan might still be a good idea. If it weren't simply his latest gimmick-of-the-week, I mean.