Is E*Trade about to become a cautionary tale?

Could a rush on E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) accounts cause the company to go out of business, and take with it the assets of all of its biggest customers? That is the question asked yesterday by The New York Times' DealBook blog; but a bigger question might be, could this be the time the government doesn't step in to save consumers? Or put another way, could E*Trade become a cautionary tale told to consumers by the Fed?

E*Trade is, after all, the haven for the little guy's money. Not totally little -- after all, accounts are insured up to $100,000 by the FDIC (and with $900,000 of private insurance, according to Silicon Alley Insider) -- but the guy who is little enough to not have his money in hedge funds; to not be on the top of the invite list to Republican candidates' fundraising dinners. Remember Long-term Capital Management? When they went belly-up because of questionable investments (no more questionable than that of E*Trade, it seems), the money of Really Important People was at risk.

Today, the risk of a run on the bank seemed less imminent, and the talk was of takeovers, not liquidity crises. But it seems that the sub-prime crisis has finally hit home to that place between Wall Street and Main Street -- Park Place, perhaps? -- and Real People with Good Credit Ratings are now getting nervous.