Fed's freeze - is a pre-approval for mortgage still possible / probable?

[Joanne Basecki]

A paragraph taken from BP blog, 8/10/11 article written by K. Kaczmarek:

"Yesterday when the Fed decided to freeze rates until 2013 that was a signal to the market and the general public that there is a lack of confidence in this economy. Knowing that the government and the stock market has no confidence in this economy, do you think banks will have confidence in creating lending standards in the real estate market? What is going on in the economy is unprecedented and is a strong signal that real estate is going to continue to stay flat for some time in the future, and one of the strongest factors in keeping the market flat is the lack of lending on real estate there will be."

Did anyone here try to get pre-approved for a mortgage in the recent days? Is there any additional info out there on pre-approvals by large banks? Is there such a thing as HML pre-approval? What could be a replacement strategy for people such as first time home buyers or the "end buyers" who planned to provide an exit for a flip?

Thank you!