Banking Panics/Bank Runs – Government Created?

Speaking to a broad spectrum of people in Greece I am starting to wonder if bank runs are a fiction created by government, here’s why

Every person I have spoken to who has money in a Greek bank have said that they believe that the banks don’t have their money.

Every person without fail has told me that if everyone went to the bank to get their money out the banking system in Greece would collapse.

And this is what got me asking the question, are banking panics is some way created by government?

There is a population in Greece who appear to know the only thing allowing them to withdraw their money is the fact that there is not a panic.

It seems everyone is acting responsibly in order to keep the Greek banking system afloat.

It appears as if everyone is working together in order for their banks to keep operating.

So why in the UK was there a panic with Northern Rock and no panic with other banks?

I think populations in general are becoming more and more aware of the fractional reserve banking system and the fact that the money in their bank accounts only exist on a computer screen and that the actual hard currency does not exist to back up all the deposits and yet people are not scrambling to get their money out.

It’s as if people know it is in the common interest for people not to withdraw all of their cash out of the bank.

Of course I could be completely wrong about everything but in the case of Greece, it seems that the majority of people are keeping their cash in the bank because they know it is in their interest for the country to have a functioning bank system even if the banking system itself is dysfunctional.

So where do bank runs and banking panics come from? And why hasn’t there been a major event in Greece?