[Reaganwuzthebest]

Can't remember for sure, but didn't the federal government bail out New York City years ago, and they have given federally guaranteed loans to corporations like Chrysler. They always find ways to do these things don't they?

[snopercod]

IIRC, it was the state of NY that bailed out the city, but the feds might have had some small part.

President Gerald Ford turned the city down for a bailout as a poor risk which generated the infamous Daily News headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead." Governor Hugh Carey, who lost confidence in Beame, stepped in with emergency controls that stripped the mayor of traditional power over fiscal matters and left the city under the Municipal Assistance Corporation. The state and federal governments then came through with financial support to save the city from bankruptcy.

The Lockheed bailout was a bad precedent, IMO, even though it cost the taxpayers nothing in the end.