In some of the old Fed minutes they talked about selling cheap options into the market as a tool to prop it up. They figured it would work, but in the event they lost control the liability of the options was unthinkable ( I think that is the word they used). This discussion was some time long before the 2007-8 debacle. This is long before alternative and untested methods became the routine at the Fed.

Could easily do the same with gold, silver, anything they felt the need to. So who knows what they are pulling out of the old playbook that they were too afraid of or did not feel the need for such extreme measures back then? They don't tell us what they do in open market operations. Personally, after seeing what I've seen in the last 6 years, I would not put anything past them to try and keep the system viable.

John