I'm the dumbass but you don't comprehend how a state can be strapped for cash but not a city within that state. Your own analogy answers it genius, the children are independent. By your rationale if the United States is in an economic downturn then every state in the country must be struggling, when states like Alaska and Texas are able to pay their residents dividends.. or is the idea of a dividend hard for you to understand too?
Simply stated, the individual cities are sovereign to an extent. Heres a link to a dictionary so you can understand the big words in my post
http://www.m-w.com