"So, the depression was deepest and longest in the U.S. and Germany. Italy, Japan, and the UK got off fairly lightly."
Yes, that is interesting. Interesting too that of those that got off lightly, Britain and Italy were both lacklustre performers in the post-war era - demonstrating perhaps that where Schumpeterian 'creative destruction' (or what comrade Bond would call capital devalorisation) went deeper, the recovery was stronger. Let it be said, though, that the real resolution to the slump in the 1930s was the Second World War. The recovery was already faltering in 1938, says Paul Mattick, and war mobilisation and military competition were the form capitalist crisis took.
Still, don't be glum. There is no need for any of that to happen to us. The economy is in bad shape, but it is not the 1930s. We will no doubt face our own unique difficulties and disasters.