We believe: Despite the Panic of 2008 evident on Wall Street Thursday, local bank deposits are safe, and banks are operating because they didn’t fall prey to subprime lending.

Banks in Madison County seem to be healthy and people’s deposits are safe despite the economic maelstrom roaring through the country and the world.

In a Herald Bulletin story last weekend, area bankers said they’d had many questions from customers about how safe their money was and even a few who wanted to withdraw all their cash, which would not be a wise thing to do.

Some in the media are drawing parallels to the Great Depression, when people swarmed on banks, took out all their money and left 10,000 banks in failure.

We haven’t reached that point and won’t likely do so. The much-ballyhooed bailout that passed Congress last week calls for an increase in deposit insurance by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Deposits up to $250,000 will be covered.

For those lucky enough to exceed that figure, some banks, such as Star Financial, are in a network that can place money above that amount in another bank so it will all be covered.

This has made many people rest easier about their deposits and has given bankers some breathing room in convincing their customers their money is safe.

Area banks are also loaning money. Since most of them didn’t listen to the siren song of subprime lending, they’ve continued to see a return on their loans. In fact, they’re still loaning.

But we’re not out of the economic woods yet. The bailout money has yet to go into effect, and fear and panic is fueling Wall Street in a massive selling spree. The bailout money should be processed into the system next week, according to financial adviser Joe Clark, but it hasn’t had the soothing psychological effect Washington hoped.

The credit crisis, which is sparking the fear and affects loans between banks, could spill down to the local banks. These are wary times, and the people in Madison County can be thankful that their banks were not reckless in making loans. Things could’ve been a lot worse.

Bank managers are worried about the near future and how much influence the Panic of 2008 will have on them. With things changing rapidly in the financial world, bankers and customers will have to keep a close eye on possible adversity.

These are times when cool and rational heads are needed. Bankers know their customers are nervous, and they expect customers to come in with questions. Do so. In these uncertain times, finding out how the bank works and why your money is safe will lead to some peace of mind. With the relentless drum beat of bad financial news, we could all use some of that.