https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dwa_financial_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dwa_financial_crisis Japan (at the time, primarily a few zaibats

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dwa_financial_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dwa_financial_crisis Japan (at the time, primarily a few zaibatsu) had serious financial problems when their export bubble popped in the 1920s. Unfortunately, they bought into myth that austerity lowers debts really badly, and decided it was a good idea to cut out 30% (!) of their GDP in two years. When that only made the situation worse, they doubled down and tried to cut another ~10%. The zaibatsu and 37 banks went under in the inevitable bank-run, and quite a few financial leaders were assassinated when the military realized their budget was about the only thing left that could be cut. Compared to that mess, the US has done a relatively good job of inflating away it's debts. Our gridlock blocked most of the austerity "fixes", so while we still have a mess of an economy, at least it isn't slashing a third of our GDP.