Why is Australia the most expensive country to live in..?

[Chiral]

So yeah why is that...do you think is it...?

Why do we pay more for pretty much everything in life compared to most other nations...?

Why do we pay 50c for a local text message when in say Asia they pay the equivalent of 20c for an international text, or in the US they don't pay for local texts or phone calls at all.

A loaf of bread can cost you up to $4-5...the cheapest I've seen bread is $1.09 at Woolies for home brand white.

The cost of housing is beyond imagination in Australia now..yet I could buy a villa outright on land in Mexico or Thailand for as little as 8k...even in the states I could buy a hectare in Wyoming and build a ranch and still have change from 120k.

[mr me]

I'm sure there are many reasons. A simple one is that we are in our own corner of the world. We also gave away or lost a lot of our ability to manufacture, therefore we have to import products. I also have another theory having to do with a large % of population earning roughly the same amount of money, but it is too long to type. One main reason is that we will pay for it. We are "rich", we don't care how much it is, we will buy it regardless. Glad I live here rather than many other places.

[vual]

GST sucks.., also Our award wage is higher then all country's you mentioned including america, i also beleave our standards of living are also alot better, In australia we the consumer pay GST, and now that the aussie dollor is rising things ill end up cheaper.

Depending on your phone plan, i mean with skype VOIP you get unlimited international calls for $6 a month...

Sign me up for the 8k vila in Thailand!!

Edited January 24, 2010 by vual

[Auxin]

Is it seriously more expensive than the US? All the following is in AUD:

A loaf of bread here costs $2.22 to $5.50, a gallon of gasoline costs $2 to $4.50 depending on whats in the news that week, a typical modest house in the city costs from $170,000 to $200,000 IF you pay in cash. My house I did pay for in cash and it was $200,000 a fairly typical 2 story house- that cheap purely because I'm not in a big city (I got the cash by selling a 1 story house in a big city and I had change left over), my sister bought a 2 story house- 3 bedrooms, dining room, living room, kitchen the selling price was $244,000 but because she didnt have $244,000 cash in her pocket she will end up paying $500,000 for it. Here if your in the hospital and you need a simple aspirin it costs $9-11 Per Aspirin depending on the hospital, $9 to get it in the ambulance. A simple band-aid in the hospital? $4.50 The misfortune of getting an ear infection, needing to see a doctor, get a test, and get antibiotics? $3,000 if your lucky, $9,000 if your not. Happen to get cancer? It could easily cost $350,000 or more per year for treatment, many people need treatment for years and years.. there are cancer drugs here that literally cost $10,542.85 AUD Per Dose! (Avastin, a drug that made pharm companies $2,997,502,081.60 AUD in the year 2008 alone)

Local text and phone calls arent free here, its just included into the base rate for having phone service at all.

I'd gladly pay a bit more for a text message or a chocolate bar in exchange for medical care that wouldnt cause a kafkaesque hell of crippling life long debt.

[bℓσωηG]

its just another form of restriction ....to keep the great aussie dream just out of reach for you to have to keep slaving your arses off workin for the man...debt,debt and more debt is all lies...price of fuel ,food etc..is all blamed on one thing or the other, but really it is just the government playing god ...hoarding the wealth and giving very little ...all they have to do is print more money, there is no shortage.... its the whole social class thing that gets me ..we are all equal god damn it...haves and have nots, is an illusion built by the "haves" to maintain their egotistical rein of power.

[J Smith]

I don't think simply printing more money is the solution...

[indigo264nm]

I'm not an expert on economics but I can start by saying shit is cheaper in Mexico and Thailand for us earning Australian dollars, but things a dirt poor for the people who have to earn a living there. You can't use the basis of comparison to what our dollar is worth in their country because you're not earning a living on their dollar.

Ultimately the answer is Australia is regarded as having the second highest standard of living in the world (under Norway).

Wanna use the US as an example??? Shit is cheaper there - things like petrol, cigarettes and food are waaay cheaper. What they pay for gallons of petrol is cheaper than what we pay for litres. But they got fuuuuuuucked by recession and in overall comparison we didn't.

These things were told to me by my friend from Ohio so there is some basis for the claims I'm about to make.

Consider the poverty levels in the US compared to Australia... By memory it was something like 30 something million in early 2000's when our dollar wasn't shit compared to theirs - think of how bad it would be now with people who have had their houses seized and living inside cars in secure parking stations because they can't afford to pay rent whilst paying the rest of their mortgage for a house they no longer have.

Look at the fact that waitresses survive on tips because minimum wage is so low that you can't live on it alone.

Look at ultimately how good our social security system is in comparison to the rest of the world - America barely have one.

We have medicare - we have partial government subsidies on pharmaceuticals and medical consultations... *basic* private health insurance coverage is also reasonably affordable to most with full time employment - even in your early 20's. In America health insurance coverage is largely dependant on what your employer offers and health care available to those without insurance is spread very thin. People near the borders of Canada are known to go there instead to obtain pharmaceuticals cheaper. Medicare is no UK NHS, but something is better that nothing.

Uni in the states basically requires your parents to have money to pay for it - we at least have the HECS system.

Our public schools and our hospitals despite not being perfect have much better funding and more resources.

There are many social inequalities in Australia, don't get me wrong, and all those things I used for comparison do have their problems in terms of infrastructure... but ultimately overall things cost more because we live better.

[Chiral]

Some interesting observations there...Auxin quoted gallons of petrol so as we pay around $1.30 a litre they really get cheap fuel compared...the bread is one that shocked me..that price is for what sort of bread..?

The housing here is the one that has gotten out of control...I was on the north shore the other day having a coffee whilst waiting to go for a job interview and was looking at the price of house's in that area..

the cheapest house that had been sold in that area, in a simple street with 2 bedrooms and a small yard was $499k

The most expensive was at 6.5million...so the average price in that area was at around 2.3million...interestingly the rents in that area started at 1200 a week and I saw one that had recently been leased for ...get this...18k a week...seriously...who the fuck is renting for 18k a week...so what they can see the water and shit...damn.

Obviously this is a very upmarket area to live but interesting to note none the less.

A modest Victorian house in the inner west of Sydney will run you into 400k minimum with the average house price at 750k...and these are small old houses with very little yard space.

Medicare is great

Social security is a blessing

The way of life is quite good even if it is 2x dimensional.

Our entertainment and communications costs are way above what others pay comparative to their earnings...comms here is the biggest rip off in the world.

Is life here really that great?

...tighter and tighter restrictions on a lot of things here over the last 10 years might make one wonder that....automobile fines and council rates are totally ridiculous I find.

[ThunderIdeal]

and we basically enjoy this standard of living because of primary industry, like some arab nations, amirite?

[ThunderIdeal]

I don't think simply printing more money is the solution...

 

agree, by the way. very surprised to here this from you blowng.

thread is going well but i'll throw in that we have a big unwieldy government that somebody has to pay for.

[Auxin]

That was generic white bread versus fancy bread.

Foods a bit odd here, they try to fuck people in the typical food aisles in regular stores but if you know where to look it can be cheaper. Like thyme is $4 AUD for 0.7 oz on the spice aisle but in the bulk foods section of the mexican section of a store that gets alot of mexicans sells it for like $1 per oz. I saw turmeric in white people store (sorry, thats what it is lol) for $7.50 for 2 oz! I went to the thai people store and bought 3.5 oz for $1.40. Same type of situation with grains and legumes and things like that too, even canned soup is 2/3 or half priced for people who like mexicans.

So admittedly, some of the high prices here are only perpetuated because americans are stupid and lazy and like to go to stores with music and wall paper and store greeters and generally like to avoid mexicans and asians, lol

Does australia have that same sorta thing going on too? Strongly white dominant stores with crazy high prices down the street from aboriginal and asian dominant stores with much lower prices?

Housing and medicine is where they really kill you here. Sorry to hear housing is insane there too.

[bℓσωηG]

The governments just print money to cover their shortfalls so the value of the paper must fall ......The Federal Reserve in America recently created nine trillions new dollars that weren’t there before..............Financial crisises are deliberately manufactured to get the controllers more control, the losers give up their homes to be swallowed up by the banks which are controlled by the elite...Their eventual goal is to own everything, then ''we'' the population will have to keep paying and working for them to be able to enjoy the privilege of breathing... ..... The only way humanity can ever truly be completely free of this economic manipulation is to be rid of it completely.....The only way to do this is for us all to do what we love for each other without needing to be paid . This is to love others as yourself... because they are you... there is only One.

[FungalFractoids]

I'm pretty sure I only pay 20c an sms...

But, yeah, it's fucked. It's the ever increasing price of booze that really grinds my gears

[Chiral]

That was generic white bread versus fancy bread.

Foods a bit odd here, they try to fuck people in the typical food aisles in regular stores but if you know where to look it can be cheaper. Like thyme is $4 AUD for 0.7 oz on the spice aisle but in the bulk foods section of the mexican section of a store that gets alot of mexicans sells it for like $1 per oz. I saw turmeric in white people store (sorry, thats what it is lol) for $7.50 for 2 oz! I went to the thai people store and bought 3.5 oz for $1.40. Same type of situation with grains and legumes and things like that too, even canned soup is 2/3 or half priced for people who like mexicans.

So admittedly, some of the high prices here are only perpetuated because americans are stupid and lazy and like to go to stores with music and wall paper and store greeters and generally like to avoid mexicans and asians, lol

Does australia have that same sorta thing going on too? Strongly white dominant stores with crazy high prices down the street from aboriginal and asian dominant stores with much lower prices?

Housing and medicine is where they really kill you here. Sorry to hear housing is insane there too.

 

I try to avoid "white stores", as where I live it's very Asian and multicultural so I find the Asian stores dirt cheap for most things, even the Asian butchers are 3quarter of the price compared to plastic wrapped prepared white store meats.

Noodles, grains, soups, veg, even drinks are way cheaper in smaller Asian grocery stores..damn even the ciggies are cheaper in em.

[santiago]

apparently perth has got some of if not the highest real estate prices in the world and you have to ask yourself why, the median house price is nearly half a million dollars....and these silly people who own a half a million house think they are rich, until they decide to sell and realise there is no point in selling because they will have to get another loan to upgrade to a $600000 house, so basically its just fools money.

take this for example, a couple of years back i lived in some flats in maylands and the very average 45 square metre 1 bedroom nextdoor was going for $200000....about the cheapest you could possibly buy into perth real estate, a meeting with the bank rep and i could buy it for $435 per week for the next 30 years. cool what a bargain - 65% of a high average wage per week finally totalling to $700000 final payment for a bargain basement flat, stupid just stupid.

meanwhile i woke up early on morning and watched that american morning show with that bryant gumbell dude, they have a real estate mini show and i was flabbergasted to see for 200- 250K they have absolute mansions on sale with acre of land, what the !!!

a family story we have on my fathers side is from my now passed grandad, on 1 wage (bottom rung railway worker equivilant to $500 p/w now) he supported 4 kids and a housewife, had a new commodore and a old 4wd, a 4 bedroom house in bayswater, fully equipped workshop and shed with every tool known to man, a caravan and took the whole family away on holidays every year, lets see somebody on $500 p/w do that in 2010, impossible and that just shows that in 40 years our quality of life has slipped so far.

[Maurice]

Australia is a country of middle men.

Everyone gets a cut, and the consumer ends up paying for it.

[dworx]

Mmmm are you sure, I thought it was Japan @ #1 & Korea @ #2.........

[nabraxas]

Mmmm are you sure, I thought it was Japan @ #1 & Korea @ #2.........

 

Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Denmark

Australia and New Zealand

Cities in this region have taken a significant plunge in the ranking following a dramatic depreciation of the Australian and New Zealand dollars against the US dollar. Sydney remains the most expensive city for expatriates in this region but has dropped from 15th to 66th. Melbourne follows in 92nd, down from 36th. Auckland has moved down to 138th place from 78th and Wellington follows in 139th down from 93rd.

http://www.finfacts.ie/costofliving.htm

Is life here really that great?

Fucking oath it is.

As an ex-Londoner i know i'd never have been able to afford to buy a house or even rent a flat there.

It's an expensive, gray, cold, damp & dingy city.

Life here is so much better...that's why the vast majority ov immigrants legal & illegal are from the UK. We come here & we think:

"Fuck, this is paradise, why did we send convicts here?"

Flying back to the UK on visits the backpackers i meet on the plane are so depressed to be going back there.

Edited January 24, 2010 by nabraxas

[Chiral]

Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Denmark

http://www.finfacts.ie/costofliving.htm

Fucking oath it is.

As an ex-Londoner i know i'd never have been able to afford to buy a house or even rent a flat there.

It's an expensive, gray, cold, damp & dingy city.

Life here is so much better...that's why the vast majority ov immigrants legal & illegal are from the UK. We come here & we think:

"Fuck, this is paradise, why did we send convicts here?"

Flying back to the UK on visits the backpackers i meet on the plane are so depressed to be going back there.

 

Paradise is in the mind...cold damp and grey to some.. but I always saw it as friendly, cultured, humorous and simple. I had a council house in London that was costing me 16quid a week for the rest of my life, it was damn nice too and in Finsbury park which is a cool neighborhood.

If your thing is hot blazing cancerous sunshine, droughts, un-air-conditioned trains and buses, alcohol boutiques that sell beer for 10bucks a bottle, handbag cheese house clubs, extortionate rents and house prices beyond most then I guess that's fine....see even I can put a negative spin on oz...each to his own...oz is a unique wonderful landscape with exquisite scenery and oceans and abundant wildlife, the weather is tolerable and food aplenty...I just think that right now we at the precipice of some sort of great divide that will gauge a line in between the rich and the blue collar worker or immigrant...some day Asia will run this land and perhaps that might be a good thing, although I fear for the wildlife and flora if that happens...living in oz means living one week to the next pretty much every single day...I had more of everything and a thriving business in the UK where as here it's pretty tough to get out of struggle street.

Do those studies take into consideration house prices to determine the most expensive countries to live in...?

[ThunderIdeal]

i work with a londoner who swears black and blue that UK has become a hell-hole (he blames immigration) and says the exact same will happen here. he has lived here for the past few years and his mother is paying about 40K just to get the errr, visa recommendation or whatever the fuck it is.

it's a bit tough to get on top but such is life. i'd like to see the rich/poor divide shrink but we all know that it's growing.

in australia nearly everybody can get a decent enough income. those who possess the wealth are often on the same money as you or i! however because they own several properties, businesses or investments they are far better off than the rest.

[santiago]

Flying back to the UK on visits the backpackers i meet on the plane are so depressed to be going back there.

 

if i was an australian backpacker who just spent time in england and was heading home i would be depressed too

[mutant]

Greece is a nice country, but it's expensive as fuck. Expensive is not only how much stuff cost, but also what the majority gets paid!

Prices are very high compared to what salaries are here : 700euros per month is the norm. 1500 euros is a very rare salary in my hometown, while it's is the first salary of an electric engineer that just graduated from the uni and is still learning while starting his job in berlin, germany which is pretty cheap city ...

Health insurance costs, which are obligatory for the bosses are quite usually not paid at all, especially in dangerous/physical professions which the costs are higher.

BUT

Thankfully we got several stuffs at low prices compared to europe, like olive oil, vegetables, bread a.o. One can indeed live and even deposit, if he lives a lowprofile lifestyle, that's why greece is an attraction for economic immigrants.

nice weather, nice friendly temperament, sea + mountain, variable habitats, great nature. fuck money

Edited January 31, 2010 by mutant

[nabraxas]

I just think that right now we at the precipice of some sort of great divide that will gauge a line in between the rich and the blue collar worker or immigrant...

it will never be as bad as the divide in the UK, which has been institutionalised since 1066.

i used to live in Finsbury Park too. St.Thomas's road. When people weren't buying crack or crack whores on our doorstep we'd have fights between the football fans.

living in oz means living one week to the next pretty much every single day..

the dole here is more than twice what you get in the UK in real terms. trying to make 60 quid last a fortnight was a nightmare.

It does get hot here & old people die from heatstroke, but in the UK:

Sophie Ridge of the News of the World, last 27 December 2009, again wrote about this massacre by the so called UK-government: "A STAGGERING 43,200 Brits will DIE from the cold this winter - because of soaring gas and electricity costs, new figures reveal. The grim figure, equal to FIFTEEN deaths every HOUR, has DOUBLED in the last seven years. Energy bills have doubled too. Most deaths are among the elderly - many of whom have to choose between heating and eating, according to the National Pensioners Convention. General secretary Dot Gibson said: "It is a national scandal and getting worse. Over a million more older people are expected to be dragged into financial hardship in the next year." The winter death rate is the increased number of mortalities between December and March compared with warmer months. In 2002/3, there were 23,450 winter deaths - and the average annual dual-fuel energy bill was £543 per household. In 2009 it was £1,239. Three million pensioners are in fuel poverty - which is defined as having to spend more than 10 per cent of your income on fuel bills.

http://estrecho.indymedia.org/general/noticia/england-43200-cold-deaths

old age pensioners seem much more likely to stay alive & happy in Australia.

Edited January 25, 2010 by nabraxas

[FancyPants]

Small population, large land area, relatively isolated...

One doesn't have to move to another country to find affordable housing with good land, you just have to move away from the major cities.

I'd rather pay higher taxes for a better overall standard of living. Rather live in a crap house in a nice neighbourhood than a flash house in a shit neighbourhood. Rather live in a country where I can have major surgery and not go bankrupt for the privilege of having my life saved.

God bless Australia.