The financial crisis in the US housing and in the global credit markets, together with rising food and energy prices, present real challenges for policymakers, especially when, as part of the US presidential election campaign, it comes to forming effective (and popular) tax policy.

As the world watches, Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain, the two U.S. presidential candidates, battle out their ideological differences in the race to deal with the financial chaos and to win over the taxpayers and their votes.

Does either of these sets of proposals address the financial crisis effectively?