You know the economic crisis is getting bad when the government is forced to bail out governments. Reuters reports that dozens of cities across America may need to turn to the federal government to keep operating. Will bailouts ever end?

Deficit spending during the good times coupled with risky derivative investments—that were supposed to lower interest payments but actually increased them—is hammering cities across the country. Throw in underfunded pension plans decimated by the stock market crash, an aging population, and falling property tax revenues, and it is easy to see why so many cities are struggling to balance their books.

Last Wednesday, while speaking before the Reuters Infrastructure Summit, Felix Rohatyn said that policymakers need to create a new powerful national agency to bail out scores of cities and states across the country. Rohatyn was the man who helped New York City avoid bankruptcy proceedings when he was the chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corp during the 1970s.

“I think there is a yawning need for a serious look at urban and state problems,” Rohatyn said. Several cities and states have suspended non-critical services by furloughing workers to save money. California and New York State have raised taxes.

Rohatyn suggests the federal government should provide billions for states and cities so they will not have to slash spending during a recession. Reuters even went so far as to indicate that the federal government could just print up whatever money was needed to help local governments keep spending, since states and cities do not have the authority to create currency.

Unfortunately, Rohatyn’s suggestions are just more of the national fantasy that got cities and states into budgetary problems in the first place—the idea that we can spend our way to prosperity.

America is locked in a culture of consumerism. But the national credit card is maxed out. Spending more money we do not have, without making radical lifestyle changes, will only make matters worse. The national bailout mentality—which divorces people and businesses from the consequences of their actions—will not fix America’s economic problems. It just lead to more bailouts.