The Republican hopeful said the US government would promptly snap up bad home loans if he became president.
``People are no longer able to afford their mortgage payments,'' said McCain as he laid out what he billed as an original proposal for addressing the grassroots impact of the Wall Street credit crisis.
``As president of the United States, I would order the secretary of the treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes, at the diminished value of those homes,'' he said.
Doing so would enable struggling homeowners to meet their mortgage payments and stay in their homes, he said.
``Is it expensive? Yes,'' he said. ``But we all know, my friends, that until we stabilise home values in America, we're never going to start turning around and creating jobs and fixing our economy.
``We've got to give some trust and confidence back to America. I know how to do that, my friends, and it's my proposal. It's not Senator Obama's proposal. It's not President Bush's proposal. I know how to get America working again.''
In a statement issued minutes after McCain spoke, his campaign said the McCain Resurgence Plan - as it branded the proposal - would purchase mortgages directly from homeowners and mortgage lenders and replace them with fixed-rate mortgages.
Such mortgages would enable families to stay in their homes, it said.
``By purchasing the existing, failing mortgages, the McCain Resurgence Plan will eliminate uncertainty over defaults, support the value of mortgage-backed derivatives and alleviate risks that are freezing financial markets,'' it said.
``The direct cost of this plan would be roughly $US300 billion ($A423.13 billion) because the purchase of mortgages would relieve homeowners of 'negative equity' in some homes,'' it said.
So imagine you're some poor hard working American who's gone out and got a house for $400k. You work hard, you pay your mortgage, you do all the right things.
Then some slack **** dole bludger next door with basically the same house, who can't be stuffed getting off his rear and getting a job gets someone from the government coming in, pays his mortgage off then replaces it with a new mortgage for half the price at a really good interest rate.
So poor Mr Hardworker's still paying a massive mortgage on a $400k house, while Mr Slack next door's paying a lower interest rate on a $200k home loan.
That's what you get for working hard in America.
Actually smells of communism to me. You know, 'You made some dumb decisions, got no money. That's all right, we'll punish that rich guy over there and make it really easy for you instead'.
I mean, can you imagine it right now? Every man, woman and dog is going to stop paying their homeloans as of tomorrow, then vote in McCain and get their mortgages halved. Actually, it'll be more like 90% off, since every single house will have just gone up for repossession.
Yeah, I can see how THAT will help the property market.
Seriously, is he that thick, or just really desperate.