Why is Australia so much more expensive than America?

RefusdClassification on 26/10/2023 - 07:27
Last edited 28/10/2023 - 05:56

I'll commence with an anecdote. I am a digital hoarder and have recently been collecting/downloading high quality art images from Google Arts and Culture, Wiki and some museums. One of the museums was the "Cleveland Museum of Art" in Ohio, which has large uncompressed tiff images you can download (I convert them to lossless Webp to reduce the size they occupy; it's filesizes are ~30% smaller than Png). Out of curiosity I began researching Cleveland, Ohio. The metro area has a population of about 2.1 million (roughly equivalent to Brisbane), yet the median house price seems to be about $125,000 USD (median includes cheap, affluent and in-between suburbs). In comparison, in Brisbane, one of the cheapest suburbs is Kingston (it's far to the south, in the Logan CIty area), and the median price there is almost $500,000 AUD.

Food also seems to be much cheaper in the USA, and in restaurants you get much bigger servings (and superior service) than in Australia (the average American consumes 3,7770 calories per day).

Tradesmen are much less expensive to employ; often on OzBargain I see people complaining about being ripped off by tradies. Petrol prices are 20% lower in America according to the following site: https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/how-much-does-petrol-c… . Electricty is ~22% cheaper according to the following: https://www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-price… (but Gulf states, China and India are far cheaper than the USA(.

Lastly, non-subsidized pharmaceutical and supplements are much cheaper in America. People mentioned melatonin on an iHerb thread. Another pharmaceutical I have been interested in is Modafinil, a stimulant that apparently lacks the addictive high of cocaine and amphetamines. It is only PBS subsidized if you have abarrage of neurological tests proving you have narcolepsy; otherwise you need a private script - no government subsidy. At Walmart and CostCo pharmacies it costs $35 USD for the generic; in Australia it costs $110 AUD at "lowest prices are just the beginning" Chemist Warehouse. That is about double the price. Why so expensive? Unfortunately we cannot buy prescription pharmaceuticals directly from overseas merchant like we can purchase cell phones or hard drives or apparel or books.

Middle class people in "the shining city on a hill" get paid similar wages to their Australia equivalent yet enjoy a significantly higher living standard because the essentials of life are cheaper there than in Australia. I'm going to get rage hated for saying this, but I feel the best thing that could happen to Australia, is for it to become the 51st state of America.

Financial

Comments

  • fantombloo on 26/10/2023 - 07:41
    +23

    Why is Australia so much more expensive than America?

    No doubt there will be tonnes of apologetics following about how we have better workers rights, live further away from everyone, have a small population density, etc. - most of which are true but don't really (have to) contribute that much to most of the issue.

    My opinion? We just bend over more easily and don't know how to kick up a fuss. That's all.

    feel the best thing that could happen to Australia, is for it to become the 51st state of America

    There's lots that's beautiful about America but there's lots that's ugly too. Some things are worth paying double for. In any event it wouldn't change the prices - look at Hawaii, it's expensive as.

    • [Deactivated] on 26/10/2023 - 07:55
      +2

      There's lots that's beautiful about America but there's lots that's ugly too. Some things are worth paying double for.

      Yeah, imagine having an OAP as head of state and senators pushing for re-election from their death beds.

    • jjjaar on 26/10/2023 - 08:05
      +6

      Some things are worth paying double for.

      Interesting you say that because Americans actually do pay “double” (in the literal sense, they’re paying twice) for a lot of things - they just don’t realise. A large amount of US tax (“large” after defends spending) actually goes to healthcare. The government pays health care providers (hospitals/insurance) to provide the health care, but then the providers also charge the consumer. These middlemen are pocketing loads. Americans don’t actually realise how much they’re being double charged for ridiculously shit quality health care.

      • Speckled Jim on 27/10/2023 - 08:32
        +1

        And this is despite the revelations of the Nixon tapes. They ain't too bright!

        • Sinnerator on 28/10/2023 - 10:37
          +1

          don't need to be bright when you got gunz

      • lew380 on 27/10/2023 - 10:25
        -8

        Yet when you need some high quality medical care, you fly to the US, australia has terrible medical care. We have good emergency care thanks to medicare, but everything else after that is almost third world.

        • try2bhelpful on 27/10/2023 - 10:44
          +8

          That is just rubbish. You get a couple of instances where people raise an enormous amount of money to try some experimental treatment that might, or might not, work by flying to the US.

          I talked to an American who got a piece of glass in his finger. Over here the GP would whip it out in a few seconds. Over there he got bounced between “specialists” and it cost him $500 over his medical insurance. My GP removed my Melanoma but, because it was a tad deeper than hoped, I had the 1 cm excision done in hospital. You have no frigging clue.

          • lew380 on 27/10/2023 - 15:03
            -1

            @try2bhelpful: Thats the thing, in america you see a specialist from day 0, here you have to get past a GP who will just doll out antibiotics or whatever pill he's getting paid to push for everything unless you know what your doing. I would rather pay the $500 now and again for a specialist that is needed in a critical moment, than fork out thousands for most years where it isn't used for a two week waiting list. We have a better safety net, but thats at the expense of quality.

            As someone with savings, id rather just pay for what i need, and at the highest quality, than be forced to the mediocre medicare . Obviously any system is open to abuse and the lucrative medical world has bad eggs.

            I have used private health to have 2 kids, and paid outright for the other kid, and guess what, its a lot cheaper to pay outright(if only i could convince the wife)! These insurances are like gambling, the house always wins.

            • try2bhelpful on 27/10/2023 - 16:38
              +5

              @lew380: I think you missed the point of my post. In Australia you don’t need to see the “specialists” most of the time provided you have a half decent GP. Our GPs do a lot of the work expensive “specialists” do over in America. Their costs are inflated because of the health care networks. Then the health care providers decide what they will bankroll you to receive.

              Actually it may not work out cheaper to gamble against the house. If things go well then the costs may be cheaper but if something goes wrong you are stuck with private hospital costs until you can be”moved”. Then you end up back in the public system anyway. My other half needed an Angiogram done and we looked at doing it private to speed things up. This was fine until we were told that if something went wrong he would be admitted to the private hospital until he could be moved. This could rack up thousands per day. We decided to wait on public and it only took an extra couple of weeks. My GP doesn’t bulk bill, and I can afford the copayment. He has tentacles into a network of specialists that reduces our wait times. My suggestion is get a good GP.

              You will also find good doctors in America will have wait times as well.

              We have private insurance and we go private patient in the public hospital. This gives the public hospitals a bit more revenue. Personally I wish all the private fund dollars were funnelled into the public system. Services without the layer of profit.

            • SydStrand on 28/10/2023 - 23:32
              +2

              @lew380: You absolutely do not see a specialist 'day 0.' They work on referrals like every other country, because the GP is responsible for baseline diagnostics and treatment which will solve for the vast majority of uncomplicated cases. If every yahoo self-referred themselves to ENTs for a blocked nose that a GP can solve, it'll result in overburden and higher-cost care. It's also an inappropriate use of specialist training.

        • p3nf0ld on 27/10/2023 - 22:38
          +4

          Sorry Lew380 but your are objectively wrong. The US has one of the most expensive healthcare systems in the world and yet does not fare well against most other first world countries.

          https://www.internationalinsurance.com/health/systems/

    • try2bhelpful on 26/10/2023 - 08:01
      +2

      Thanks for the empirical evidence. As suspected it is swings and roundabouts.

  • FoxJump on 26/10/2023 - 07:48

    well when the local currency is the standard, you can print all you want and not have local prices really change

    • HeWhoKnows on 27/10/2023 - 10:05
      -1

      Talk about "local currency" most imported items are priced in USD.
      When you are only getting US 63c per AU$1 what do you expect?
      Everything imported is 40% more expensive when converted to AUD

    • iminabrons on 27/10/2023 - 15:01

      Nonsense.

  • coffeeinmyveins on 26/10/2023 - 07:57
    +49

    America has more homeless people than the entire Australian population. They also have more people than the entire Australian population living in poverty. Children are murdered every week in schools and they have to design them to be anti mass shooting.

    Australia may be expensive but I wouldn't trade it for that.

    but I feel the best thing that could happen to Australia, is for it to become the 51st state of America

    Uhhh…no . We don't need any "American freedom" over here thanks

    Food also seems to be much cheaper in the USA, and in restaurants you get much bigger servings (and superior service

    From my experience too the food in the US is rubbish. It's quantity over quality. Things are big but they are tasteless or full of crap .

    The service is better because they pay their staff a poverty wage and they are literally begging for tips. No thanks

    • knobbs on 26/10/2023 - 09:38
      +1

      Your first comparison is a woeful example, you can't just say they have more homeless people than there are people living in Australia and expect it to hold weight. They have a much larger population so ofcourse they are going to have more. That is like also saying there are more dwellings in America than individual people in Australia, so America is better. Cool story but unless you talk % it don't mean much.

    • Jazstar on 27/10/2023 - 11:00

      You are completely and utterly wrong! It’s literally the first google search result.

      “ The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) counted around 582,000 Americans experiencing homelessness in 2022. That's about 18 per 10,000 people in the US, up about 2,000 people from 2020.”

      https://usafacts.org/articles/how-many-homeless-people-are-i…

  • jjjaar on 26/10/2023 - 07:58
    +14

    Houses - usa is a lot more decentralised than Australia. You can’t just compare two cities of a similar size, you need to compare the third largest city in each country. So in USA, that’s Chicago, and the median sold house price there is $323.5kUS, which, surprise surprise, is $512kAUD

    Food - surprised you need this one clarified, but hourly wages for staff in the food service industry is about $2USD. Of course prices in restaurants are much lower when they don’t have to pay their staff a living wage. But even then, don’t forget to add 15-20% tip on top of whatever price you’ve assumed.

    Supplements (including melatonin) - the FDA doesn’t regulate these products as drugs, but as food. They have ingredients in them that could be really risky to take without checking interactions with other drugs. Melatonin has been in the news a bit recently because ingredients are not as stated, with the actual amount of melatonin varying substantially. Whereas in Australia, the TGA regulates these to confirm the amount is as labelled. Paying a bit more to make sure it’s regulated so I don’t overdose or I’m not paying for nothing seems worth it.

    I'm going to get rage hated for saying this, but I feel the best thing that could happen to Australia, is for it to become the 51st state of America.

    Let’s line up all the women and children you know. Women become designated incubators and the children they spit out will be in a permanent game of hide and seek where they get shot if they lose.

    • Sinnerator on 28/10/2023 - 10:40

      the aud$ vs usa$ is complete manipulated garbage designed to make it easier for australia to sell resources internationally

  • Benoffie on 26/10/2023 - 08:05
    +3

    Its not just the US. My folks are looking at retirement back in Ireland as dollar for sqm, much better value. The whole UK market is in a slump.

    Dont get me started on mass migration policies and importing economy. This country is just running on commodity dividends and air atm.

    • [Deactivated] on 28/10/2023 - 08:17

      Outside food and commodities this country does nothing. They won't stop the state government bros parading around in Tommy Hilfiger acting like they deserve there 120 base.

    • Jazstar on 31/10/2023 - 13:07

      Ireland has miserable weather though.

  • foursaken on 26/10/2023 - 08:07
    +26

    As someone who is really into their "freedom", can't help but think you've an agenda. Perhaps you should simply move to the USA? You can enjoy their healthcare, privatised water supplies and mass shootings every day, close up.

    If you actually bothered to work it out, USA is not cheaper. I've been having cancer treatment all year, and it's cost me just over $2k because I don't have ambulance insurance. I'd be bankrupt in the US. There are tons of services that you must pay for the in the US that are government funded in Aus. Sure, booze, ciggies and other things are WAY cheaper, because our government controls population health with taxes.

  • pegaxs on 26/10/2023 - 08:08
    +27

    I feel the best thing that could happen to Australia, is for it to become the 51st state of America.

    JFC… this is literally the worst thing that could happen to Australia. You need to take your rose tinted glasses off and loosen that MAGA cap or at least relax on snorting your synthetic cocaine supplements.

    • EightImmortals on 26/10/2023 - 09:40

      I thought we we already were a state of 'merika?
      Maybe the paperwork hasn't gone through yet.

  • Pelicannn on 26/10/2023 - 08:18
    +5

    Having lived in the USA for nearly 12 months I can agree that things were cheaper but it depends where you are. I was in the DFW area of TX and Fayetteville NC for most of it.

    Most material things like electronics and clothing was cheaper. Groceries were certainly cheaper (it’s been 7 years nearly now, but I specifically remember punnets of raspberries for 99c - what a dream) but the quality was not always the same and some of their food is really not good for you.

    Tolls were significantly cheaper, I think the one I used to take to work was around 40c each way. I remember parking at DFW international airport and paid maybe $4 for half a day.

    Roadworks were significantly faster. I remember driving on a road on the way home from work that was being set up for roadworks and the next morning when I drove back one side had been completely resealed (about a 200m section). By that afternoon the other side was done and roadworks gone.

    Vehicles were significantly cheaper. Ozbargain’s favourite high-value-depreciating CLA250 over there was around $32,000 USD. I think over here at the time it was pushing $80,000 AUD. Leasing was also very cheap. Mustangs, Chevys, Camaros, all the ‘fancy’ muscle cars which here cost an arm and a leg are cheap. You see a corvette driving around Australia and you go wow… nice car, corvettes in the USA are about as common as a BMW or MB over there.

    That all being said and done, it had plenty of downsides, crime, homelessness, drugs, didn’t feel safe at night, very poor health system.

    The one thing I would absolutely want to see from America migrate its way over here is their 20/25/30 year fixed home loans deals. They were offering 20 year fixed at ~2.5% when I was there.

    • fantombloo on 26/10/2023 - 08:47
      +1

      Yes, heaps of positives in America that people here brush away with pro-Australian or anti-American sentiment. We could learn a lot from them. They could also learn a lot from the rest of the world. Just closed-mindedness all round.

      • Protractor on 26/10/2023 - 10:19
        -5

        Learn what? How to rape,pillage,murder destroy,invade and do it in every corner of the globe. By any means they want?
        What are the kids learning at school? Grave digging 101?
        When praising America you should avoid jokes pertaining to anything to do with 'minds'. (At least until they find them again)

        • fantombloo on 26/10/2023 - 10:19
          +4

          You prove my point.

          • Protractor on 26/10/2023 - 10:22

            @fantombloo: As do you. Pure unfettered denial. Their political system is a train wreck. They have so many loopholes in law and constitutional issues the Mafia has made a comeback. They rebadged as GOP.

            I'm and US critics are not the one with closed minds dude. And my eyes are wide open,unlike yours.

            • fantombloo on 26/10/2023 - 10:24

              @Protractor:

              There's lots that's beautiful about America but there's lots that's ugly too.

              They could also learn a lot from the rest of the world.

              Your comprehension is a train wreck. Ciao.

              • Protractor on 26/10/2023 - 10:26

                @fantombloo: The beauty in America is held hostage at gunpoint. Much like us.

              • try2bhelpful on 26/10/2023 - 13:07

                @fantombloo: https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/active-shooter-re…

                Somebody’s comprehension is a train wreck.

                • fantombloo on 26/10/2023 - 13:57

                  @try2bhelpful: You're showing me something most people (at least outside of America) already know: that America has a gun problem. Is there something else?

                  • GG57 on 26/10/2023 - 14:00

                    @fantombloo: The USA now has an anti-LGBTQI, anti-abortion, pro-MAGA Speaker (and probably a climate-change denier as well).
                    As well as a full-blown gun problem.

                    It would be great if there were actual adults in charge over there.

                    • fantombloo on 26/10/2023 - 14:10
                      +1

                      @GG57: Yeah, we had a few prime ministers that way inclined too up to just a year ago.

                      More things could be said about America - yes, it's an evil empire, a cesspool of sh1tty outcomes from latter stage capitalism and right libertarianism and religious douchebaggery. I don't understand why these things are being raised in a post about prices unless you want to show some direct causality?

                      Dunno why you think you need to move me - the first comment on this post, mine, pretty much said being like America would suck. That doesn't change the fact that America is great in many ways, and we suck in many ways, and that American prices are generally better than our generally ripped off prices.

                  • try2bhelpful on 26/10/2023 - 14:34

                    @fantombloo: Actually by the time you take into account taxes, the exchange rate and variations in regions then you probably don’t see a lot of differences. In fact as per the posting further up that does a comparison of products it is very much swings and roundabouts.

                    Yes, Australian housing is expensive but if you compare our capital cities to the top five or six in the USA then it probably isn’t a lot different. Most of the real estate prices should be compared to our middling country towns.

                    America might have Diners but we have inexpensive Asian food places. We also don’t have the price plus tax plus tip to contend with. What you see on the menu is what you pay. Also because of the working poor situation there are a lot of people who expect a tip. Fruit and veg might be cheaper over there because we don’t have a bunch of illegal alien Mexicans picking our produce. The joke is too many Americans prefer processed food to cooking from scratch. If you want nutritious well cooked food, as opposed to calories on a plate, you pay the price.

                    I’ve travelled quite a bit in America. California, New York, Nevada, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, etc. it used to be cheap to live over there but since our currency plummeted, not so much in comparison. We used to come back with electronics and bags of books but it isn’t worthwhile anymore. Particularly given the voltage and plug differences. Now I go to the Australian DFO stores.

                    My recent travels was to Hawaii, which was a lovely place. But the costs are quite high.

                    If you want to do the comparison then look at Sydney to New York and Melbourne to San Francisco. I’ve been to all four.

                    • fantombloo on 26/10/2023 - 15:31
                      +2

                      @try2bhelpful: Ok, I've been to all those places (except Louisiana), and many more, and found that apart from only NYC and parts of Cali, most specifically SF, they are all cheaper on all sorts of things. When I have American friends, or pretty much any other foreign friends, come here the first thing they do is drop their jaw when they see how much things cost.

                      There's no point comparing NYC and Sydney - both are alpha cities and are costly. It's the remainder that actually counts.

                      With regard to real estate, what America has and we don't are lots of beautiful smaller cities and towns where people can buy a nice home for a quarter of what we pay here for a crappy house on a tight block in a town in the middle of nowhere. I haven't looked lately but before the toilet paper fiasco you could get a nice house in a tree lined street in a beautiful town 90min out of NYC for half of what you'd pay for a fibro box 6 hours out of Sydney. The barrier to entrance in real estate in the States is so far lower than ours it's not funny, and that affects not just home ownership / renting but also opening up new businesses and general entrepreneurship. That some Sydney suburbs can command $10M+ averages isn't shocking, the fact that you can't buy a nice family house anywhere here for less than a small fortune is what's shocking. Our kids here have little hope without an inheritance, over there they at least have good options to move.

                      • try2bhelpful on 26/10/2023 - 15:51
                        +2

                        @fantombloo: You can buy a nice family home over here for less than a small fortune but you need to get out of the big cities. Australia is a very urbanised environment. It is why you have to compare our big cities to their big cities because that is where the comparison is. If you go to a small country town in Australia you will pick a house at a decent price. The problem is no one wants to live there. Frankly our small towns are dying because of this. They have empty houses and shops that would be suitable for families but nobody will move there.

                        Given the traffic problems in NYC it would be interesting to see where 90 minutes lands you, similar to Melbourne or Sydney.

                        Yes I think our housing is overpriced but we, certainly, have things that are cheaper than America especially when it comes to health care. There are lots of reasons for things to be more expensive here including the cost of shipping things in, a smaller consumer population, and Australia’s aversion to people still needing food stamps if they work for a major company.

                        As I keep saying it is swings and roundabouts.

                        • fantombloo on 26/10/2023 - 16:26

                          @try2bhelpful:

                          It is why you have to compare our big cities to their big cities because that is where the comparison is.

                          You're essentially saying something like I should compare the prices of cars but I can only compare BMWs against Mercedes. No, I want a situation where I can compare any car and find one that suits my needs at a fair price, not some arbitrary level someone else sets. Australia doesn't much offer that situation - mostly just BMWs and Mercs, otherwise tired old bombs. America offers every car under the sun - you can get ripped off if you want, or you can be frugal, or anything in between.

                          cheaper than America especially when it comes to health care

                          Judging the States by healthcare costs is like judging Australia by tobacco costs - quite exceptional. Yeah their healthcare system sucks, we all already knew that too.

                          • try2bhelpful on 27/10/2023 - 00:03

                            @fantombloo: Healthcare is the most basic thing that is important to people’s well-being. It isn’t like comparing it to tobacco.

                            Most Australians live in urban areas where house prices are expensive. If they moved to small country towns then they could buy cheap housing, but Australians wouldn’t move out there. Look at the dwindling populations in Australia’s country towns. I’m comparing apples with apples. To use your parlance the problem is people won’t buy the tired old bombs. The houses are out there waiting for you. As are the empty shops.

  • Sal in SA on 26/10/2023 - 08:20
    +2

    Our wages is 1 - min wage adds a heap to anything, just the labour for building a house is a large part of the $ /m2 costs.
    Population is another -25mil vs 300mil - economy of scale enter the room.
    Isolated - not only does USA have 300mil customers - but just over 2 borders and they have 100's of million more customers / consumers etc. - again we have what 25mil ..total.
    Isolated - to gett o larger markets (see economy of scale) we need to ship everything - sometimes that means needing to ship twice - once into country - then out - add in all the extra taxes / duties with such and high wages for each and every step - the compounded costs can never compete.

    Wait till we hit 300mil population and see how much closer we are..

  • bobbified on 26/10/2023 - 08:25
    +3

    It's because everyone knows that we're easy.

    Not only do we get screwed by corporations… even our own government continually tries to screws us!

  • DarkOz on 26/10/2023 - 08:28
    +8

    I feel the best thing that could happen to Australia, is for it to become the 51st state of America.

    No thanks. If you think America is better, you should move there.

  • Hellfire on 26/10/2023 - 08:30
    +2

    Try visiting NYC or even LA and your perception will change rapidly. Things are cheaper in secondary cities like Cleveland but the more popular cities are out of control expensive (even more than our cities here in Australia).

    Don't forget the tip as well. Adds 20%+ to all meals. Service is not always that great because tipping is expected regardless.

  • try2bhelpful on 26/10/2023 - 08:40
    +6

    We’ve travelled quite a bit in America, including my man working there when 911 happened, and we were always glad to get home again. Empty calorie food is cheap but if you want decent food, with smaller serves, you pay more by the time you take into account the exchange rate, the taxes and the 25% tip. You don’t tend to get the variety of different cuisines you get in Australia. There is a much bigger homeless and mental health problem over there than here. Also for the land of. “Free speech” you learn to keep your conversations to a superficial level and your opinions to yourself. You never know who is going to go psycho with a gun. Religion is forced on people as well. Look at the laws in some of the GOP states.

    In 2000 I had a melanoma removed from my arm in Australia and the hospital operation cost me nothing. Visiting the specialist cost me $100 a pop, a fair bit of which I could claim back. The same thing in America, even with health insurance, would cost me thousands. The fact your health insurance is tied to your job is crazy. Some insurers were covering Viagara but not contraceptives.

    My house fronts onto a laneway in an inner city suburb in the second largest city inn Australia. There is no way I would risk that in the USA.

    The absolute last thing we need is to be the 51st state in America.

    This seems to be yet another troll post.

  • samyall on 26/10/2023 - 08:42
    +1

    Cleveland Ohio is a city so exciting it is often used as the butt of jokes about cities in the US.

    Brisvegas, although verifiably the worst of our eastern cities, is still a coastal city with access to amazing nature, year-round sunshine, and still a major metropolitan city.

  • Rear CreviceEruption on 26/10/2023 - 08:45
    +4

    Your post is a few years out of date. It's true that the US used to be massively cheaper than Australia for nearly everything, especially when the AU dollar was getting US $0.90-$1.10. I remember getting a New York strip steak with veges, fries and drink for less than US$15 (around AU$16 at the time), but in the last few years the exchange rate and inflation in the US mean some things are now more expensive in the US.

    I would say there is greater variability in the US property market, as some states/cities can be very cheap, but those areas also might have a lot of crime. Whereas, in Australia, pretty much everywhere is expensive now. Also, there is probably more variability in US wages, because the hourly minimum wage is so low.

  • randomusername2017 on 26/10/2023 - 09:10
    +1

    One way ticket to Cleveland would be half price too…🤔

  • [Deactivated] on 26/10/2023 - 09:25

    More folks lamenting if only their parents/grandparents had migrated to 'murica

    • try2bhelpful on 26/10/2023 - 09:42
      +1

      Not where I live. The interesting thing is people who have money in America are buying property overseas so they have a bolt hole in case it goes pear shaped over there.

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 26/10/2023 - 09:49
        +3

        in case it goes pear shaped over there.

        gestures broadly at everything over there

      • [Deactivated] on 26/10/2023 - 10:09

        I was referring to the typical flavour of these kind of OPs where random stats & references are cobbled together to put forth a random argument with a rage bait-y closing sentence.

        Most people, who have money, buy property in different countries for that reason so it's not just Americans. What the wealthy Americans tend to do is be loud with their opinions about their country and make grandiose claims that they'll bail overseas if things don't improve or if Trump is (re)elected President and don't follow-up on their promises.

        • try2bhelpful on 26/10/2023 - 10:35

          I don’t disagree that the OPs post is pretty much trolling for comments. He is very selective in his comparisons.

          When we were younger we would enter the green card lottery to work in the USA and the older I get the gladder I am we never got one. The place is a hot mess.

          Australia, for all our faults, is a much better place to live. If I injure myself I don’t run the risk of being bankrupted because of the healthcare bills. We’ve talked to a few Americans and you usually have a pretty big extra cost even with health cover.

          The wealthy Americans still give themselves the option to go somewhere. There certainly are a few of them who have bailed to overseas countries and go back for work.

          I’ve much preferred travelling in Europe than America. Even with the language issues.

  • GG57 on 26/10/2023 - 09:41
    +2

    …subsidized…

    It seems that someone is already on board with the old USA.

  • MonkeyMagic1977 on 26/10/2023 - 09:50
    +2

    Go live in Cleveland for a few years, you will understand why it is so cheap.
    Its an old steel city that has struggled to evolve since its glory days.
    When I first went there 15 years ago, it was the weirdest feeling, so unlike any other city I've ever visited.
    Shopfronts with dust dust inside them, very few people around, lots of homeless at night.

  • Protractor on 26/10/2023 - 10:09

    Why?
    Because we are owned by America. The price gap is the rent we pay to be occupied,flog off minerals and energy at charity rates,and for the privilege of the growing invasion of the NT. Basically we pay more so America can paint a really big target on us that's visible from space.
    Albo is over in the US right now , but he's only visible from the ankles down. Prepare to be sold out even further
    So you missed the boat Thaal. We ARE that 51st state. However, reading your throbbing envy of the blood soaked ,hypocritical, rat hole we are owned by I suggest you crowd fund and move there.

  • plmko on 26/10/2023 - 11:12
    +2

    Bahaha someone from QLD thinks Australia is a hell hole and the USA is so much better…….why am I not surprised.

  • GG57 on 26/10/2023 - 12:56
    +1

    Breaking news:
    16 People are confirmed dead, along with 50-60 others shot in (another) mass shooting incident today.

    • try2bhelpful on 26/10/2023 - 13:06
      +1

      Exactly what I came here to post.

  • Baghern on 26/10/2023 - 23:01
    -1

    Its called economy of scale…

    In regards to food

    There's a reason why yankee land can't export meat to Europe…

    Hell yankee land can't export a lot of food produce due to dodgy farming practices

    If it wasn't for South America providing so much fresh produce yanks would be even more fked

    The US has the highest food poisoning rate in the Western world

    Australia only has one real city… its called Sydney…………..

    Brisbane is rural Australia

    • Poor Ass on 28/10/2023 - 01:02
      +1

      If it wasn't for South America providing so much fresh produce yanks would be even more fked

      They hardly eat fruit and veges have you seen the tiny selection they have in supermarkets over there. Even the "candy" aisle is bigger.

      Australia only has one real city… its called Sydney…………..

      Hahahahahahahahaha…. Yeh "real city" like the other ones in Australia are not worthy.

      Brisbane is rural Australia

      Wish these Sydney real city w@nkers stop driving like lunatics in "rural" Brisbane. Messing up our dirt roads.

  • DoctorCalculon on 26/10/2023 - 23:26

    Modafinil

    I would suggest Armodafinil. Much more longer lasting, and less harsh.
    It consists of only the R-enantiomer of Modafinil (which is a acemic mixture of S- and R-enantiomers).

    There are ways to buy them online without a prescription. However, you run the risk of seizure by customs.

  • Myone888 on 27/10/2023 - 07:32

    Yeah, Australia is one of the most expensive place to live. House prices are high, tradie services are high. Due to isolation airfares are high too. Cars are now expensive. 😌

  • martywins on 27/10/2023 - 07:45
    +3

    Having traveled and lived in USA for a few years, it definitely is swings and roundabouts.

    If you already have an education and don’t have health problems America is a great place to be.

    Parents there start saving money when a kid is conceived to be able to afford to pay for college.

    I am incredibly jealous of the natural beauty they have from Alaskan wilderness to Rocky Mountains to the deserts of New Mexico. Also jealous of how close they are to the rest of the world. The 1 week euro trip makes sense when the flight is 8 hours.

    All in all I think our standard of living is better in Australia. Roughly 25% of Americans have a passport, some of that is due to the fact that there are 50+ capital cities to visit if you want a holiday, but a huge part is economics. People just can’t afford to travel.

    I met one young man in his 20s. He was a junior tradie. When I told him I was from Australia he had this starstruck look in his eyes and it was clear he had no hope of traveling ever.

    Sadly, America appears to be going off the rails due to the extremism of their politics and escalating gun violence. I know a decent number of Americans who live in Australia and don’t see themselves moving back anytime soon unless things radically improve.

  • jhaley3180 on 27/10/2023 - 07:54
    +1

    I think you might find if you moved beyond your Internet research and actually moved to the US or even traveled there you might find a different story.

  • Craigie on 27/10/2023 - 09:09

    Competition and the size of the consumer market.

  • afah0447 on 27/10/2023 - 09:10
    +3

    • The USA can be cheap or expensive given where you live.

    • America is very money and wealth focused and very entrepreneurial.

    • The average person over there doesn't view the government the same way we do. We see the government as a provider of services. Americans as a hindrance to the pursuit of their own goals.

    • There is heaps of competition in business in the USA, here, a handful of big players run everything.

    • However, there is virtually no social safety net in the US. If you're poor, you're stuffed and nobody is coming to help you. Here, Medicare and other transfer payments ensure nearly everyone has a pretty high standard of living.

    • Guns…case closed.

    • try2bhelpful on 27/10/2023 - 10:39

      Yeah but with every massacre the useless politicians offer their thoughts and prayers. Apparently God doesn’t seem to think that is enough.

  • simmos on 27/10/2023 - 09:26
    -2

    We already ARE the 51st state of America. Take a look at the ridiculous AUKUS deal for example. Why are both side of politics supporting it? Go figure!

    • OrangeBJ on 27/10/2023 - 14:23

      Can you shed some light on this? It is too difficult for an ordinary, like me.

    • TightAl on 28/10/2023 - 11:12

      Don't even mention all the wars we follow them into :)

  • jonkvh on 27/10/2023 - 10:15
    +1

    This argument rears it's ugly head again. Put it this way, you have 50 mainland states that operate as separate countries. Where you live determines so much of your lifestyle. Forget about the cost of living or price of stuff, as an Aussie, just the culture shock alone has it's own cost. Their customs & norms, their way of thinking, how they handle basic everyday issues.

    In the US, if you've got money, you can isolate yourself above a lot messy fiddly crap we don't have to even think about over here. Don't look at everything via dollars & cents when comparing Australia and the States. There's a whole slew of issues that need fixing to bring the US up to par with Oz, it isn't just about cheaper goods & services.

  • Drakesy on 27/10/2023 - 22:43
    +2
    1. Sh1t exchange rate due to low interest rates due to inaction by the RBA
    2. Our housing model is nodal which restricts us to very few areas where we like to live, America has many more inland cities which reduces the load on the coastal cities.
    3. America does have equivalent cities to ours, just see California, New York is some of the most expensive real estate in the world.

    Also Healthcare and education is expensive, there's a lot of extreme nutters, and Florida…
    Basically if you're born into a well off/middle class family you're onto a good wicket, if not, good luck getting out of poverty.

    Back during the GFC the aud was worth more than the usd, back when labor was running the economy. Since then we've sold out to lobbyist corporations who wanted a more competitive export environment and all of Australia paid for it.

  • 2025 on 27/10/2023 - 23:57

    Why is Australia so much more expensive than America?

    My first thought - it’s because we’re an island.

  • Poor Ass on 28/10/2023 - 00:50

    Why is Australia so much more expensive than America?

    Why is Australia so much more expensive than most countries?

    There I fixed it for you

  • jesseboy89 on 28/10/2023 - 01:04
    +3

    Cleveland Ohio is the equivalent of living in Wagga. It's not even the biggest city in Ohio; it's a third tier city.

    Large cities in the US that have comparable job opportunities, infrastructure, and entertainment are more expensive in the US. Having lived in the US for the past 2.5 years, it's easy to see that major US cities such as Washington DC, NYC, Philadelphia, Miami, LA, San Fran, Portland OR, Seattle, etc etc are far more expensive than Australia's major cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra.

    As a simple example, in restaurants and bars people too often look at the menu price without factoring in the additional several percent of tax added on, the 20% tip, and then the exchange rate. In Canberra if I buy a burger and beer from King O'Malley's it's $35, if I buy the same thing in DC it might be $35 but that's in USD and before tip. So that now becomes US$42, then flip the exchange rate and that becomes $62 Australian dollars. It's not cheaper.

  • Alley Cat on 28/10/2023 - 08:08
    +1

    It’s best understood if you paid a visit. The standard of living can be so surprisingly low, I couldn’t stomach watching it personally. There is a lot that goes on in this country to make sure the bottom line is high enough: poverty in the US is a completely different story from that in Australia.

    • LFO on 29/10/2023 - 14:45

      The homeless of Australia will disagree.

      • Alley Cat on 29/10/2023 - 16:00

        Until you meet the homeless in the US.

        • LFO on 30/10/2023 - 22:48

          They have more rights and are better organized! :-]

          By the way, I was questioning your benign "poverty in the US is a completely different story from that in Australia."

          As if homelessness in Australia is not cruel … for a starters they are referred as "sleeping rough". What a cretin of a term!!!!!

          From there on they are not considered humans and worst, they are not considered that one day not long ago they were part of our society, going to our schools, living next door to us. Just being like us. Very sad.

  • TightAl on 28/10/2023 - 11:09
    -1

    Australia is already a state of the US of A
    They say jump, we answer how high.

    Going to America so eye opening, a country truly in decline by mismanagement.

    The politicans care more about 'democracy' than they do the people … oh and the Miltary complex, Big Pharma, Prisons etc etc.|

    Going into rat infested cities, riding on crumbling infrastructure. The thought of APS using tax dollars wisely might even cross your mind lmao.

    Too many complex unsolvable problems

  • LFO on 29/10/2023 - 14:44
    -1

    For anyone doubting how "Americanized" we are, notice the use of that term to refer to the United States of America.

    America is a continent, by the way.
    Stretching form Alaska to Patagonia.

    You are welcome :-)

  • tonka on 29/10/2023 - 15:30
    -2

    Higher taxation to cover social security and the quasi social security of having 30% of employees public servants. Plus the compulsion to have every road curbed and every curbside mowed.
    So pay higher tax and higher housing bills so need to earn higher rate. Higher wages means more expensive service and goods.
    Would be better if all those American companies dodging tax in Oz paid their share, and taxpayers could pay less, we'd need to earn less.

    Essentially, if we weren't supporting often that overseas middleman through their profit margins and tax evasion…………

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