The economy is not in a recession because of the credit crunch. The economy is going into a recession because of the crash of the housing bubble. Homeowners are losing on the order of $8 trillion in housing bubble wealth, $110,000 per homeowner. For most families, this is most of their wealth.
It was this housing bubble wealth that drive consumption and pushed the savings rate to near zero over the last four years. Now this wealth is disappearing and people are cutting back their consumption.