We should all go to Iowa to get our gas

On Sept. 11th, I drove to Kansas City to visit family.

Along the way I did a gas price survey. Rolling Meadows, $4.08; Walton, Iowa, $3.49; Des Moines, Iowa, $3.32; Belton, Mo., $3.47.

On my return trip (Sept. 14) all prices had risen a fairly uniform 20 cents due to Hurricane Ike.

The first defense any Chicago area gas vendor will use for their high prices is "It's the taxes."

Gas is taxed in Iowa and Missouri too. What then happens with the 50 cents plus we are paying compared to those areas?

Cars congest our Chicago MSA roads, gas is consumed and taxes are paid on that gas. Yet most of our governmental units that get a slice of that tax face hard financial times.

One of my Iowa relatives chalked it up to earning power creating a cost of living.

"People in Chicago earn more than people in Des Moines, so they can afford to pay more."

There is more to the equation than his simple statement, but I believe it has a grain of truth.

The gas companies see Chicago as a "profit center", being able to charge us more to make up for areas that cannot support higher gas prices.

And we pull up to the pump like cattle to the slaughter, knowing our fate to pay the high prices but our addiction to gas is unending.

Only a revolt or moving to Iowa seems to be the way we can get lower gas prices.

Stephen Calcari

Rolling Meadows