Quote from tmarket:
Absolutely serious. If they had taxed 20% on Credit Default Swap notable value, the investment banks would not have taken so much leverage and they won't have collapsed and the tax payers will not be on the hook for $8 Trillion.
If they had additional tax of $1 on gasoline, the blow off top on the oil speculative run up would have been over much sooner as the consumer realized the games being played and demanded action from an administration zealous on deregulation on Enron and oil and gas.