By Nicole Gelinas, includes “… To avert a default, the standard story goes, New York State and the federal government stepped in. The feds guaranteed state-issued bonds to save the city. … This story is partly true. New York did spend beyond its means, and it did need rescue … and the city’s top financiers and businessmen, led by Rohatyn, engineered that rescue … Contrary to the accepted narrative, though, New York never cut back its spending on a sustained basis. …”