The turmoil in the financial and stock markets prompted a lively panel discussion at Stanford last Friday that was part of the university's homecoming weekend.

"Certainly there will be increasing amounts of taxes that will need to be paid by the wealthy to finance the cost of shoring up the system," Mark Wolfson, a consulting professor in accounting and finance at the Graduate School of Business, said. "I have no doubt that will occur no matter who is the next president."

"That's backward," replied John Taylor, a Stanford economics professor and member of Sen. John McCain's economic policy team. "Who would increase taxes at a time like this?"

The forum was moderated by John Shoven, director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

A video of the conference can be seen at

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— Don Kazak