It would probably be more effective to beef up some relatively healthy regional banks with federal capital given with the explicit understanding that it was to be used for financing commercial paper, letters of credit, student loans, etc. subject to specified credit worthiness, with a specified degree of federal risk underwriting in return for offering said credit at terms that would enable the loan recipients to carry on the financed activity in a beneficial manner.  The problem would be getting the terms right and being able to have confidence that the regulators were actually trying to promote the public good as defined by more than just the financial elites who have been the beneficiaries of all of the bailout largess to date.  I doubt it should even be attempted until after Jan 20.

The recipients of bailout money to date are probably waiting to see if the terms of their credit default liabilities are triggered.  I remain convinced that these products need to be voided or quickly unwound.  If triggered, they could set off a financial Armageddon.  That creates the mother of all financial uncertainties, with the consequences we see all around.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."