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The national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline continued to climb overnight, and now stands at $2.88 per gallon.

With the busy summer driving season rapidly approaching and more people buying into the economic recovery — I think it’s just a head fake before the second leg down — it now appears that it is only a matter of time before the price of gasoline climbs back over the psychologically important barrier of $3 per gallon.

Today’s price of $2.88 is only slightly higher than a week ago ($2.86), and not much higher than a month ago ($2.80).Â However, today’s price is over 40% higher than a year ago ($2.04) when we were still wondering if the financial system and the economy were about to collapse.

While the national average price of gasoline might be below $3, that certainly doesn’t mean some parts of the country haven’t already crossed that threshold.Â Nine states and Washington, D.C., have an average price above $3 per gallon, with Hawaii having the most expensive gas at $3.65 per gallon.

Conversely, there are still several states that are well below the national average, with New Jersey reporting the lowest average price at $2.66 per gallon.

If the economy continues to show signs of improvement, and inflationary pressures on energy prices continue to increase, I think it’s fair to say we’ll all be sharing in the pain of $3 gas by Memorial Day weekend.