"The U.S. bailout is definitely going to work faster, but it will feel more brutal," said Steven Clemons, a Japan expert and director of the foreign policy program at the New America Foundation. "The Japanese digested about 10% of their nonperforming loan problem a year -- so while the economy didn't grow, it didn't shrink. Japan was able to keep flat GDP."

Clemons cited the already sharp contraction in the U.S. housing market and consumer spending. With bank lending still pretty much frozen, he says there's no way to avoid a hard landing. LINK