Detroit may be on the brink of insolvency. This is not the first time a US city has hit run into major financial problems. Cleveland did so in 1978, Philadelphia in 1991 and New York in the late 1970s.  Jonathan Soffer, associate professor of history at Polytechnic Institute of New York University and author of "Ed Koch: and the Rebuilding of New York" explains what lessons Detroit can learn from these other cities-- and in particular, from New York.

Jonathan Soffer discusses his new biography of Ed Koch, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City.