Howard Pyle, The Burning of Jamestown, an early-twentieth-century illustration, not an eyewitness view. Public domain.
On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and the financial system seized.
If money is tight, you learn the word credit when the employer cannot get it.
If you are in the middle, a retirement fund and a job can both depend on a bank you do not use.
If you have savings, the question overnight is whether the cash fund is still a dollar a share.
Bear Stearns had been forced into a sale in March, and on September 7 the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, and the next day the Federal Reserve rescued the insurer AIG.
A money-market fund broke the buck, and lending among institutions stalled.
Source: Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, September 15, 2008; Federal Reserve and Treasury actions on Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG.