Serious problems true and the possibility of worse to come but those bank failures you refer to occurred during an era where it was conventional wisdom to think that intervention wasn't necessary. Since then that's no longer the case and large financial crises have regularly seen government intervention if you look at such crises from a worldwide perspective. If banks can be saved, one will see the government trying to do so.
That's why the government is coming in as the lender and buyer of last resort and is expected to print money to alleviate the liquidity problem.
Projections are for worse to come and all the bad news hasn't been factored in yet. That said I don't know why you would say it feels worse than previous times. The 70s for example were pretty bad with gas shortages and high interest rates. The bust in Japan was large but it led to an anemic state not a complete collapse. I worry that the problem is being blown out of proportion. There is truth in FDR's words that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. The way this crisis is being covered was at first too apathetic but now maybe a little too dramatic. The big name bankruptcies and sharp stock market falls have given a serious jolt. But concern shouldn't turn into hysteria going by recent financial crisis examples. One problem is that leadership from Washington is lacking. No one believes Bush. His political capital has been spent and that is a contributing problem since psychology plays an important role in these kinds of situations.