They may all cease to exist.

As San Bernadino joins the ranks of other California cities that have gone bankrupt or are about to, no one is looking at the long term reality. That reality is, once these cities go under, who takes up the slack? Who provides police and fire? Certainly not the state of California. California is already bankrupt, they just refuse to admit it while they continue to cook the books to try and stay afloat.

Stay tuned. California is about to return to the days of the old west. Lawless territories patrolled by bandits and renegade Mexicans and others on the prowl for what can be pillaged.

Rising costs push California cities to fiscal brink

Throughout the state, local governments are slashing services to avoid bankruptcy. For some, it's too late.

 Facing the same financial stressors that pushed San Bernardino toward bankruptcy, cities across California are slashing day-to-day services and taking other drastic actions to skirt a similar fiscal collapse.

For some, it may not be enough.

San Bernardino on Tuesday became the third California city to seek bankruptcy protection in the last month and, while no one expects the state to be consumed by municipal insolvencies, other cities teeter on the abyss.

PHOTOS: California cities in bankruptcy

"There are likely to be more in the future, but it's hard to know, since a lot of struggling cities may manage to work things out,'' said Michael Coleman, a fiscal policy advisor for the California League of Cities. "Some cities may not go into a bankruptcy, but they may dissolve. They may cease to exist.''