Oil companies are consolidating and reaping record profits. And that's not a good thing, for democracy or for planet earth.

Antonia Juhasz' previous book was The Bu$h Agneda:  Invading the World, One Economy at a Time.

It's not the cost of oil at the derrick that has been driving up the price of gasoline at the pump, says researcher, analyst and writer Antonia Juhasz. A far more influential factor is the speculative trading of oil price futures, which happens outside the view or regulatory control of this or any other government.

While most big oil companies have recently begun to portray themselves as newly sensitive to the environment and open to alternative energy, Juhasz isn't buying it.