corruption index

Size of fine Merrill Lynch, contributor of more than $2.3 million to federal
candidates and parties since 1999, agreed to pay to settle charges of
systematically misleading investors: $100 million

Amount Merrill Lynch gave to the Bush-Cheney 2001 Presidential Inaugural
Committee: $100,000

Number of $100,000 contributors to the Bush-Cheney 2001 Presidential Inaugural
Committee: 225

Number of Bush "pioneers", individuals who raised at least $100,000 for his 2000
campaign: 214

Amount of money George W. Bush raised from individual donors in 1999 and 2000 as
a candidate for president: $101 million

Amount of money President Bush and Vice President Cheney have raised for the
Republican Party and its candidates since January 1, 2002: $100 million

Amount contributed by WorldCom in 1999 towards the establishment of the Trent
Lott Leadership Institute at the University of Mississippi: $1 million

Average amount given by the Big Five accounting firms and their industry lobby,
from 1989-2001, to the 46 Senators and Congressmen who wrote the SEC in 2000,
successfully preventing it from cracking down on the industry: $93,000

Odds of being audited by the Internal Revenue Service in 2001 if a taxpayer made
over $100,000 a year: .69 out of 100

Odds of same taxpayer being audited thirteen years ago: 11.41 out of 100

Chances that a taxpayer making under $25,000 is more likely to be audited in
2001 than one making over $100,000: 1.2 to 1

Chances that a business making under $25,000 in profits was more likely to be
audited than a business making over $100,000: 2.3 to 1

Percentage of large contributors to congressional campaigns who make over
$100,000 a year: 81 out of 100

Number of U.S. Senators that are worth $1 million or more: at least 40 out of
100

Odds of a U.S. House incumbent winning election in 2000 if their opponent spent
less than $100,000: 100%

Number of candidates running with 100% full public financing in Maine and
Arizona: 353