An act of desperation? (UPDATED ... again)

I can't remember what it was that was last sold short in my ETRADE account as it has been quite a few years and, overall, it was a money-losing proposition as I recall, but it sure smells like desperation when you see a notice like this one.
The SEC's ban on short-selling for 799 financial stocks (and a similar move in the U.K.) brings back memories of a few months ago when share prices were plunging in Pakistan.

As shown below in this story from Times Online, angry investors took to the streets to protest their reversal of fortune and the government soon cracked down on short-sellers along with the added measure of "setting a floor" for stock prices as reported by MarketWatch in August.
So, you know what's likely to happen next in U.S. markets if this short-selling ban fails to stem the tide for financial stocks...

Remember that it doesn't take short-selling to make stocks go down - just regular 'ol selling will do the trick just fine - and when the euphoria of the current rally wears off, investors will still be looking at a very troubled group of financial stocks.

This headline...
... could turn into this one ...
----------------------------

UPDATE: Friday, Sept 19th, 11:30 AM PST

Apparently the original notice was not having the desired effect, so ETRADE has seen fit to add the little red exclamation point thingy to the left, as shown below.
This all makes perfect sense of course. After the move up by financial stocks in recent days, they've probably been deluged with phone calls from less attentive (and now very irate) customers wanting to know why they can't sell these shares short after having watched their prices rise sharply.

----------------------------

UPDATE: Friday, Sept 19th, 1:00 PM PST

And now it's gotten a lot wordier. Options expire today - that should complicate things just a little bit more.

----------------------------

UPDATE: Friday, Sept 19th, 3:45 PM PST

By popular request...
The floor seems to be holding, so far.