Donna Shalala

Donna Shalala, a former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and politics professor, shares her insights on the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis. She discusses how decades of financial mismanagement led to the brink of bankruptcy, causing chaos in public services like sanitation and fire departments. Shalala details the role of the Municipal Assistance Corporation in rescuing the city, the skepticism of investors, and the infamous federal response, encapsulating a historic struggle to stabilize NYC's finances.