Dunno if you saw this:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20080914a.htm
The Fed will now accept equities for their PDCF loans.
To my knowledge, the Fed has never taken equities as collateral for short-term loans.
The TSLF will now take all investment-grade debt securities - ie, corporate debt other than asset-backed paper is now eligible for lending of Treasuries.
What this signals, IMO, is that the Fed is no longer “the lender of last resort.”
The Fed is now the only lender in town.
The Fed is pulling out the stops to prevent a depression. If I felt a depression was in the offing, I would be pulling out the stops as well.