LG Richard Ravitch was the featured speaker at this morning’s ABNY breakfast, and he gave his usual grim assessment of the state’s perilous fiscal situation, NY1′s Bobby Cuza reports.

Ravitch, who is widely credited with helping to rescue NYC from the brink of bankruptcy in the 1970s, said what New York is facing right now is “even more serious,” but harder to solve.

“It lacks a precipitating event,” the LG explained. “And behavior has not changed even though consequences of the path we are on are as serious if not more serious than what the city faced in 1975.”

Ravitch said Gov. David Paterson’s controversial proposal to furlough state employees until there’s a budget deal is an effort to “get the attention of people,” adding:

“We are legally constrained because of our inability to file an insolvency petition. So we’re trying to get people to recognize that there’s no fairy godmother. And they better change their behavior.”

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