The Fed is acting.  Just look at this plot. Never mind understanding it at first, just look.  That's what the Fed owns.  The big picture is "something's up!" I'm trying to understand what, in more detail.

First of all, there's a companion liability picture.  That one, (they're both on wikipedia's Fed. Budget page)  matches, so assets = liabilities.  The new matching liabilities that paid for these things are owed exclusively to the Treasury and preponderantly to depository institutions. The Fed bought bad debt from big banks, with what money I'm not sure.