Oil and Gas Prices Being Manipulated For the Presidential Election? | Daily Fuel Economy Tip

Of course they are, just like unemployment figures, cost of living statistics, import-export balances and GDP numbers.

But.

Exxon records $11.68 billion in profits for the second quarter of 2008... and still falls short of what analysts expected. This historic profit margin broke the earlier all-time record--also set by Exxon--of $11.66 billion, set in the fourth quarter of 2007. In three quarters, Exxon has banked over $32.4 billion in profits.

All this for a commodity that isn't scarce (check OPEC's production figures and remember the U.S. and other oil-producing companies don't belong to it) and has been traded on a market subject to the whims of speculators.

One of which is Exxon, playing all the angles, from government to market.