Why America lags the rest of the world in innovation! Any North American idiot, Canadians even, knows that you use the price of something to achieve economic goals. A decent gas tax would be one legacy that would distinguish that apathetic rich from the the marginally active poor. Why not get that debt down at the same time. It is a winner way to drive America into the future and get the economy to pay for itself. The only problem is that oil companies would disappear and become energy companies. Stop subsidising pollution, the solution is a hefty and decent road tax that keeps America in the cities and away from the countryside. Mass transit might then have a chance and pedestrian centres.
Scratches to Sketches