The original truism actually reads:
"Bush's war for the World Bank"

Our shadowy backers insisted on the generic scapegoat wording - "oil"

Energy has been a big interest for him – before the Fed, during his years there, and since. Why? The reasons were its scale and its overall impact on the economy, Dr. Greenspan replied. But, he said, “People are not aware of how fragile our tie to energy is. We have got to cut back on oil consumption in this country.” As the starting point, he advocated a $3 a gallon gasoline tax, similar to Europe, though phased in over a few years, with rebates to lower income families. He did indicate that he didn’t necessarily think it was very likely politically.

Of course, I think this is a promising idea, as long as it's gradually phased in. But instead of just providing rebates to low-income families, the mainstream advocates for this kind of tax say it should be revenue-neutral. And they are calling for just be a gas tax but a broader carbon tax, i.e. coal too.

More here: http://www.carbontax.org/

I remember when you could get Ethyl for only 7/10ths....