Everything old -- good and bad -- may be new again.

In the 1970s, New York City was on the edge of bankruptcy. Only when world leaders warned of the ripple-impact was a federal bailout crafted. The state agency that was created to oversee the fiscal resolution was called the Municipal Assistance Corporation -- aka "Big MAC."

Now there's chat among some Sacramento health care lobbyists -- with a budget deficit now projected by the state legislative analyst to grow to as much as $28 billion over the next 20 months -- that the Golden State may need its own Big MAC Attack.

The 1970s were ugly times in New York City, and entrenched interests bickered as dollars for payrolls and operations ran dry. President Gerald Ford wouldn't budge, prompting the famous New York Daily News headline: "Ford to City: Drop Dead."

Times are getting pretty ugly now -- only not just in California. And creation of a California Big MAC might take a ballot initiative, the ousting of current lawmakers and the surrender of good chunks of state government authority to an overseer that decides what are priorities and what fades, at least for now.

Jobs were lost in New York City as taxes were raised, services (especially for the needy) slashed, college access restricted and infrastructure projects delayed or denied. Hint: This chaotic period marked the debut of the first Charles-Bronson-as-vigilante movie, "Death Wish."

As New York City deputy-mayor-designate John Zuccotti told Time magazine in 1975: "We have to decide whether to do a lot of things poorly -- or a few things well."

Call it austerity, call it triage or call it, as Gov. Schwarzenegger does, "taking a little haircut." Layoffs, furloughs, givebacks, taxes, do more with less. It's a national affliction; it's just that California has, what, the world's eighth largest economy?

Just for the record, New York City paid off all its multi-billion-dollar emergency federal loan guarantees and fees. And in September of this year, Big MAC, the city's savior, officially went out of business.

(For a nifty history of government bailouts, go to http://www.propublica.org/article/history-of-govt-bailouts-updated-111008/ )