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We've all heard the stories of people lining up to get their money out of IndyMac, such as in the article in the Los Angeles Times, but now it seems that IndyMac customers aren't the only ones starting to get nervous. Another article in USA Today says that Washington Mutual customers are now starting to get very nervous.

Washington Mutual led the sector's decline, sinking 35% to close at $3.23 a share, after an analyst questioned the thrift's financial viability. Investors also sold off other regional bank stocks, such as National City of Cleveland.

The sell-off followed federal regulators' seizure late last week of IndyMac, a California mortgage lender with $32 billion in assets. The action Monday was the latest sign of widespread anxiety, even panic, about the economy's underpinnings.

"It's not just the equity market that's making investors nervous," says Greg McBride of Bankrate.com. "We're talking about a real estate market that is making homeowners nervous, a job market that is making job seekers nervous."

The problem with people becoming nervous, and especially if people become panicked, is that they will make their own doom filled prophecies come to pass. Although some are still keeping their money in their accounts, others are foretelling another depression.

Richard Bove, an analyst at Ladenburg Thalmann, wrote Monday that while no banks he covers seem at risk of failing, Washington Mutual is "on the edge." The thrift, in a statement, said it's more than "well-capitalized." Capital is vital to banks to cover losses from bad loans. Separately, National City sought to quell rumors about its financial troubles by saying it had not experienced "unusual depositor or creditor activity."

A big danger, McBride says, is that investors' worries about banks "can almost become a self-fulfilling prophecy." Michael Heller, president of Veribanc, a bank-rating firm, agrees that if consumers panic and withdraw money en masse, that could cause banks to fail.

The public's loss of confidence triggered IndyMac's failure, regulators say, with customers withdrawing $1.3 billion from the thrift in 11 business days.

The FDIC has signs posted in every bank but people haven't been paying attention to what it is they really do. This has people with deposits exceeding 100,000 in any one account at the head of those beginning to panic.

Outside an IndyMac branch in Manhattan Beach, Calif., that reopened Monday, about 100 people waited beside four police cars and barricades. Irene Sims had the day off from work, "But I had errands to run, not this." She had $160,000 in the bank, she says, and was there to withdraw all of it: "I hope."

The FDIC insures up to $100,000 in deposits per person per bank, more if you open a joint account or save in a retirement account.

Even though much of depositors' money is insured, "An event of this size is a lot of shock to some people," says John Bovenzi, the FDIC chief operating officer who has been appointed head of the new government-run IndyMac Federal Bank. "They want to see that their money is safe."