1980s

Economic recoveries in the decade after World War II were brisk affairs, but then they slowed. After stabilizing in the 1980s and 1990s, they seem to have taken another step down.

The U.S. savings and loan crisis of the 1980s ended up costing taxpayers 3.2 percent of G.D.P., the equivalent of $450 billion today.

Some estimates put the fiscal cost of Japan's post-bubble cleanup at more than 20 percent of G.D.P.

Japan during the 1990s experienced a wave of stagnation, as the insane property bubble of the 1980s burst and then proceeded to show how ineffective monetary policy can be.

Now, America finds itself in a perilously similar situation.