Did Billionaires' Donations to Bush Get Laundered to Avoid Detection?

The Manhattan District Attorney, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are jointly probing a tax-shelter plan run out of the Isle of Man.

The scheme, devised by one of America's biggest banks and used by two billionaire donors to George Bush's election campaign among others, is being probed for possible breaches of securities and anti-money-laundering rules.

The investigating bodies believed that up to $100m (£55m) of tax was saved through one scheme alone, and as much as $700m in taxes may have been avoided over an 11-year period. The scheme involved executives and corporations handing over stock to trusts that they declared they neither owned nor controlled. When the options were cashed in, no tax was payable.

This story - appearing in the Brit "The Independent" but which could not be found just now in the American press - arrives on the heels of a Times article indicating that the gap between the rich and the poor in the U.S. has increased exponentially under Mr. Bush, and that the very rich are leaving the merely rich behind in the dust.

Are you better now than you were before Bush?

I didn't think so.