As the world's biggest debtor, America headed into this bust in a very different position from Japan, a creditor nation rich in domestic savings.
Germany and the UK, now chairing the G8 group of industrialised nations, have proposed that the Paris Club of creditor nations suspend debt repayments by tsunami-hit countries.
Japan is a creditor nation that can rely on domestic savers. Greece is a deficit country that depends on “footloose” investors, says Thomas Mayer of Deutsche Bank.