Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit ever by a U.S. company - $40.6 billion for the year 2007. That follows $39.5 billion for 2006, $36.1 billion for 2005, and $25.3 billion for 2004. Chevron came in second behind Exxon Mobil. Chevron also had its best year ever in 2007, with a profit of $18.7 billion. These profits are in addition to the billions in subsidies that the Bush Administration has given to the oil companies who helped finance his election to the presidency.

During the past decade, the oil industry has spent well over $100 million on lobbyists and political donations, which honest people recognize as legalized bribes. In 2006, 89 percent of ExxonMobil's donations went to Republicans. Yep – with oil-men Bush and Cheney in the Whitehouse, it’s no wonder that the price of gasoline has more than doubled since W took office. Nor is it a surprise that our government gave tax breaks to individuals who bought gas guzzling vehicles while Bush was in office. Nor is it a surprise that we started a war with an oil country, while an oil man was our commander in chief.

In 2001, when President Bush took office, the national average price of gasoline was about $1.46. It is now substantially higher. Where does this money go? Some of the enormous profit goes to companies like Exxon; some of the profit supports leaders with oil background like Bush, Cheney, and Rice; and much of the colossal profit helps friends of the current administration, some of whom are obscenely wealthy Arab nations, which finance terrorism against the United States.

Why does our government continue to give huge billion dollar subsidies to oil (the most profitable business in America) but very little money to alternative energy research? To look a just a few oil subsidies: "The Bush administration confirmed that it expected to waive about $7 billion in royalties over the next five years... On Aug. 8, (2005) Bush signed a sweeping energy bill containing $2.6 billion in new tax breaks for oil and gas drillers and a modest expansion of the 10-year- old 'royalty relief' program... Energy companies, whose executives had long contributed campaign funds to Republicans, pushed to block amendments aimed at diluting the benefits." 03/27/06 Edmund Andrews, The New York Times

The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards were first enacted by Congress in 1975 to reduce energy consumption by increasing the fuel economy of cars and light trucks. Regulating CAFE is the responsibility of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Why has our government not moved to improve the CAFE standards for nearly two decades? Overall fuel economy for cars and light trucks in the U.S. market reached its highest level in 1987, when manufacturers managed 22.1 mpg. The average in 2004 was 20.8 mpg.