If I trade USD/EUR, the spread is usually somewhere between 1 and 3 pips (.0001). Why is the spread on MtGox so much higher, to .01 to .7 or more? What is/are the cause, effects, and remedy (it seems like a bad thing?)

I have no idea myself and and searching for "spread" on the forums did not work out how I had hoped, so sorry if this is a stale topic.

Thoughts? Explanations? Baseless conjecture?