Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Already, oil prices have been forced up by Iraq's inability to produce at previous levels due to our current (and shameful) engagement there. Suprise, surprise, Exxon, BP, and Conoco Philips are all posting ridiculous profits:

The newest numbers from the second quarter of this year show Exxon Mobil with a 32 percent increase in earnings over this time last year -- that's more than $7.6 billion.

BP saw a profit increase of 38 percent, totaling $6.7 billion, while Conoco Phillips -- the third largest oil company in the country -- recorded a 56 percent increase in profit, more than $3 billion.

More information on this tangled web: Record Prices mean Record Profits for Oil Companies

So while the White House and John Bolton have got America and the world all jittered up over the possibility of war with the Iranians, they're pulling bills from our backpockets, a lot of them.

My guess is that Bush and and Exxon really don't care whether Iran has the capability to produce nukes or not, just as long as Ahmadinejad remains vocal and crazy enough to keep up the illusion of a threat and in the process, oil prices.

But this is just part of the sweet pie Bush and his oil buddies are having, the real prize lies in undermining the power of OPEC to regulate oil prices:

Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, who will gather informally this weekend during an International Energy Forum meeting in Doha, have said there is nothing more they can do to stabilize prices.

So, by conjuring up war, the men who experienced the oil crisis and thinning wallets back in the 70's have found a way to retaliate against the conglomerate that had brought America to its knees. It's not that the oil men were upset about high prices, they just would have liked to have seen the profits on their spreadsheets.

Shifty bastards.