With the financial crisis beginning to bite, and the trillion dollar bank bailouts still heavy on the balance sheets, governments everywhere are looking for new ways to get cash in the coffers. The government of Barack Obama may just have hit upon a radical solution – a tax on air.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced today that cash strapped California had found an innovative new way to battle the states huge budget shortfalls – a deal with drinks giant Coca Cola that would see the state renamed Cocacolia as part of a $3bn a year deal.