Japan & Sweden hold bailout lessons for US

"As the U.S. grapples with its banking crisis, President Barack Obama is pointing to Sweden and Japan as offering lessons for what the United States should — and shouldn't — do.

Both faced banking crises in the 1990s, but reacted differently.

Sweden moved quickly, nationalizing two banks and setting up an asset management company to take over bad debt. In contrast, Japan waited seven years before getting serious about bailing out its banks. The result: a "lost decade" of economic stagnation — a fate the U.S. president says America must avoid."

The Associated Press