The Bailout Tax

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants a "Wall Street tax" to fund the $700 billion bailout:

... the fee could be assessed after five years if the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office determined taxpayers had lost money in the bailout.
"If after five years ... the CBO decides that the American taxpayer has lost money in this, then there would be a fee on financial institutions," Pelosi said...

I find it interesting that Democrat Pelosi is proposing this, since the Democrats, especially New York Senator Schumer, receive a majority of Wall Street's political contributions. Schumer and other Democrats blocked the Republican's attempt earlier this year to increase the tax on hedge fund managers (I guess Democrats could claim that hedge funds aren't technically part of "Wall Street", since most are now headquartered in Connecticut). Because of the Democrats, hedge fund managers pay only a 15% tax rate on their earnings, rather than the usual tax rate. I think increasing this tax rate would be a great start to paying for the bailout.