There were two ways to explain New York’s ongoing fiscal crisis. According to one, the banks were the villains. Rather than stand by the city as it grappled with the loss of manufacturing jobs, they had panicked and abruptly dumped all their New York City bonds on an unsuspecting market. Under the other explanation, the labor unions were the bad guys. They had strong-armed City Hall into concession after concession until the public sector payroll was finally so bloated that it broke New York’s financial back.
