People talking about Lehmans. Well Lehmans went down purely from gossip and rumours that it was in trouble. The rumour mill caused a run on the bank, which in turn made the rumours true.
Trust me, this did not happen. I know. For starters, it was not a commercial bank, and a run on funds cannot exactly happen to an investment bank.
It went down as it ran out of cash in trying to meet obligations, which become more onerous as the share price fell. Yes, it was circular, and rumour pushed it further, but the whole business had been dying for a year or so before it actually happened.
This recession needs to be fearful, to force people to realise that they have to save more to be able to ultimately spend it. Life cannot be lived on credit forever, and the UK has done so for longer than most!