As regards policy to get out of the mess, there are both similarities and differences. In 2009, there was an international conference in London to try to sort the problem out. The same thing had happened in 1933. And then, as now, it does not seem to have done any lasting good. In the 1930s, the possibility of reaching a global solution was hampered by the difficult relationship between the old hegemon, the UK, and the new powers, the US, Germany and Japan. Now the US, as the declining hegemon, squares off against China and the emerging markets.