While I'm not defending the Fed for what I see as an enormous risk, this is another case where "facts matter" ~ Sooz 

No, the Fed did not hand out $7.77 trillion to banks
Posted by Suzy Khimm at 03:55 PM ET, 12/07/2011

It was a staggering claim that quickly made the rounds in Washington last week: that the Federal Reserve had handed out $7.77 trillion to big banks at the height of the financial crisis. “The Fed fought to keep the details of the loans, which totaled $7.77 trillion, secret long after,â€

The press always mischaracterizes loan guarantees - it's "sexy" news. What amounts to being a cosigner isn't salacious enough.

Guaranteeing $7.7 trillion in loans to near-bankrupt banksters and fraudsters is as dumb as it gets.