Since San Bernardino declared bankruptcy this summer, tensions have been rising and elected officials have been struggling to agree on a big idea to fix the city's problems.
Long struggling, San Bernardino couldn't weather the storm of the 2008 recession. The city of more than 200,000 has declared bankruptcy, and that's just one of the big problems it's facing.
If debt-ridden municipalities begin walking away from their financial obligations the way homeowners once did, such strategic defaults could wreak havoc for municipal bond holders.