Reply #14: The answer of your question in your penultimate sentence is

[grantcart]

that since loans make up the overwhelming majority of bank assets on a balance sheet (paid up capital only a small 10% or so) that an accurate accounting of the value of these assets today, in the middle of a rushed 'fire sale' would have put 80% of the bank system (volume not companies) into technical insolvency and into the FDIC and crashed the system.

This is based on the fact that if you auctioned off all of the properties off at once or in mass that it would have taken the value of these products from, lets say 50%, to 30%. If they can slow down the panic, restore stability and develop a slower method of bringing these same products to the market they are likely to get between 50% and 70% of their current value. Many banks will still not have enough assets to balance their books but it will not bring down the entire system.