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The CEO of a large Greenwich-based brokerage firm is proposing a creative solution to the nation’s housing market crisis. 

Thomas Peterffy, chairman of Interactive Brokers Group, agrees that a bailout is necessary to avoid a long and protracted recession.  But he says it’s the homeowners and not Wall Street who should be bailed out. So he proposes that the Treasury pay the first $250 of every American’s primary residential mortgage, each month for the next five years.  "It is simple to implement and it is progressive.  Because those people who have a modest home, the $250 a month will pay a very substantial part of their mortgage. And it is very transparent.  Everybody can understand it. And it does not leave room for favoritism."

Peterffy says his plan would cost less than the 700 billion dollars Congress has appropriated for the bailout.  He’s has taken out full-page ads in the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal to get the message out.  So far no response from Washington.  On its website,  Interactive Brokers Group describes itself as the largest independent US Broker.