As Kevin says, it's a bit hard to figure out exactly what's going on in the NYT article. After reading it a couple more times I think it's something like this:
1) They're very frightened of suggesting that any of these big financial institutions might actually fail because they don't want to cause any panics. So, DON'T WORRY EVERYBODY KEEP THE PARTY GOING.
2) But they're suggesting that maybe, just maybe, some of those banks might need a bit of support WHICH WE WILL OF COURSE PROVIDE in exchange for... well, maybe something!
So, don't worry customers. Probably don't worry bondholders. And stockholders? Wait and see suckers!
