Money Well Spent

Oil giant Exxon/ Mobil announced the largest ever profit for a US company in 2007- $40.6bn, breaking its own record of $39.5bn set the year before. The company also broke the record for most profitable quarter- $11.7bn for the last three months of 2007, which surpassed the mark set in 2005 by (any guesses?)... who had Exxon/ Mobil? Correct!

The main reason behind the extraordinary profits are surging oil prices, which topped out at $100/ barrel earlier this month. Now, I'm as capitalist as the next guy (as long as this is the next guy), but this is making me sick. When President Bush was inaugurated in 2001, oil was $26/ barrel. It's now close to $90.

The price of gasoline is over $3/ gallon, and I can barely afford to fill up my tank (I might actually have to switch to Regular Unleaded if this continues).

President Bush is an oil man, from an oil family, and has the support of companies like Exxon/ Mobil. They certainly got their money's worth.

Over the next few months, I'm sure that we'll hear the question "Are you better off now than you were eight years ago?" a lot, as the presidential race progresses. It will be used as a rallying cry by Democrats because most Americans aren't.

But if you ask Exxon/ Mobil and its CEO, officers and big shareholders, you'll probably get a very different answer.