Theories on gas prices abound

MARYLAND – There’s one term every driver has gotten familiar with since Hurricane Katrina: gouging.

“I just got back from Las Vegas yesterday, and gas was 6 cents cheaper in the middle of the desert than it is here,” said Philip Burgess of Germantown in a random gas station conversation Friday. “Maryland’s screwing us!”

I surveyed several gas station owners, managers, employees and customers Friday, and the most common philosophical answers I got to why gas prices are climbing yet again were “corporate greed” and “the government — just because they can.”

I’ll make an effort to put my personal feelings about our government aside and say there are other factors to consider. While some Frederick gas stations may be tweaking the numbers in their favor by a few cents, it’s really just that — pennies. Not worth driving an extra few miles out of the way for. But that’s a separate tangent.

Frederick News-Post