JACKSON, Miss.--You're mad about gas prices and the blame game is in full swing, according to News Mississippi's Facebook page. But, the good news is that you may have seen prices peak out for now and a drop may be in the near future.

Mississippi's avergae price for a gallon of regular held at $3.63 for the weekend. Some stations were offering it as low as in the 3.40s. Others had it as high as $3.85. The national average was $3.80 Monday morning.

Oil analyst Trilby Lundberg told News Mississippi there may be an end to the sharp jumps that you've seen over the past few weeks.

"For the near future we could see some rsises, but they will be quite small if crude oil prices cooperate," she said. "But this could be the end of the price rises."

She calculated that it's been a total rise of 54 cents per gallon over a nine week period. But, crude oil companies are expected to give your local gas station a break.

"We have a stronger dollar and lower oil prices. And finally refiners are cutting wholesale prices to their accounts and retailers have recovered their margins and so they will soon, I think, be able to pass the cuts to us."

Meanwhile, the blame game is booming. News Mississippi's Facebook page has comments like these after we asked who or what is to blame:

Prices have gone up $.30 a gallon since the state of the union speech. Just saying.

No new refineries in 30+ years, curtailed domestic drilling, failed costly green energy policies, having to make different fuels for every little pocket of environmentalists.....

Of course yous all (yall) blame the president... "If I just blame him, I won't have to do any logical thinking!"

To answer your question, since the price of gas goes up when it gets time for the majority of people to take vacations, or travel to Mom's for Thanksgiving or Christmas, I have a feeling that the gas companies regulate it for the most profit that they can get.

The recent spike is cyclical: refineries use a different formula during summer months to combat smog, and its around this time every year that they make the switch. Naturally, production slows down at this time, and once they're done with the switch, the price should drop back a bit. Supply and demand.

The president refuses to allow us to drill for our own oil. Therefore, we are forced to rely on other countries for something we simply cannot run this country without. Those other countries see prices begin to fall and slow down production to force them to rise again. It's time for this country to become more self sufficient. Constantly relying on other countries for EVERYTHING is only putting us at the mercy of everyone else. Do we really want out future and the futures of our children to rely on countries like Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia? (These countries are members of OPEC, a group whose only mission is to make a profit from oil sales.)