Harvard economics professor Kenneth Rogoff warned that the US government's worsening fiscal woes may not be resolved until a major crisis hits voters and prompts them to demand reforms. In an interview on Friday, Rogoff said that US debt has continued to accumulate uncontrolled over the years because academic economists “almost religious” are convinced that interest rates will fall indefinitely. However, he said that the convenience rate has rebounded from a low level and continues to rise, and political leaders have yet to adjust their policies. “Interest rates have been reversed, but Washington hasn't,” the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund said during an economic policy seminar in Jackson Hole.

Harvard economics professor Kenneth Rogoff warned that the US government's worsening fiscal woes may not be resolved until a major crisis hits voters and prompts them to demand reforms. In an interview on Friday, Rogoff said that US debt has continued to accumulate uncontrolled over the years because academic economists “almost religious” are convinced that interest rates will fall indefinitely. However, he said that the convenience rate has rebounded from a low level and continues to rise, and political leaders have yet to adjust their policies. “Interest rates have been reversed, but Washington hasn't,” the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund said during an economic policy seminar in Jackson Hole.