Feeling the pinch at the pump? Bush oil buddies laughing all the way to the bank

Bush's buddies and prime backers are making suckers of us all. The Enron corporate model is alive and well.

Profits amaze even analysts
With oil prices, 'It's like they're printing money'
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - Pumped up by persistently high energy prices, the oil industry maintained its streak of massive — and growing — quarterly profits this week, aggravating motorists and amazing financial analysts.

"I have been following this industry for 18 years and I have never seen anything like this," Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit said Friday. "It's like they're printing money."

The results of the world's four largest oil companies illustrate just how well the industry has fared lately.

Since the end of 2003, Royal Dutch-Shell Group of Companies, BP Group, Exxon Mobil and ChevronTexaco have earned a combined $97 billion, including $23.8 billion during the first three months of this year.