In plain English, by Brad DeLong. Obviously, the success of this thing depends on the auction–and one question is whether some of those houses currently holding toxic assets can game the game in a way that inflates the value of their assets.
(It’s also good to remember that those assets–the homes in foreclosure–will eventually be resold for a percentage of their previously inflated worth, perhaps a significant percentage of it. Our population is continuing to grow. People need homes. And, as Tom Friedman has suggested, with tongue only slightly in cheek, there are scads of entrepreneurial high-skilled immigrants whom we could welcome to provide the same sort of booster to the U.S economy as they did for New York City when it was slammed in the late 1970s.)
In any case, there are lots of questions but, as DeLong describes it, the plan makes sense to me.