the bank of japan, observes david wyss of standard and poor's, did not. >> japanese took interest rates down to zero, like the fed has done. but they pretty much refused to engage in any further quantitative easing measures. and as a result, you didn't get much improvement in financial conditions. banks were still locked up. the federal reserve has been much more anxious, much more eager to go into quantitative easing to avoid that trap. >> reporter: the catch is that avoiding the trap means positive growth, not explosive growth. after a decade of boom, that is a difficult, although common, adjustment. >> we are in the aftermath of a major financial crisis, one that we haven't seen the likes of in 70 years, but one that economic historians are telling us the world has experienced periodically for hundreds of years. and the truth is, when you have this major financial shock, it takes a long time for the real side of the economy to recover. >> reporter: that truth is not satisfying for people used to instant gratification, but accepting that slow growth is better than no growth, is seen a