Ken Rogoff says it's good that things in the US are this bad

The US economy is exhibiting the signs that typify the aftermath of a severe financial crisis, with housing prices likely to fall yet further and no immediate sign of easing unemployment.

According to Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard University professor, investors can take comfort in seeing the US behave like most other countries have done following a financial crisis. Because crises end, he told the AsianInvestor and FinanceAsia Asia-Pacific Debt Investment Forum in Hong Kong yesterday.

Rogoff and his colleague Carmen Reinhart last year published This Time Is Different, their data-soaked analysis of 800 years of sovereign debts and defaults. The book is not only recognised as a breakthrough...