US$, Aussie$, Yen and PS3: a huge rip off for Aussies or what?

[ChichiriMuyo]

hsrob said:

thranx said:

How high is austrailian minimun wage? ONly 5.75 in the us i believe. How many business, city, and county taxes do you guys have to pay? its not just sales tax, but any tax paid by a business and how high minimun wage is that will efect the final price.

Minimum wage is certainly higher in Australia but having talked extensively with some American friends of mine about their various property taxes and such, versus the generally much higher income tax rate in Australia (30-45c/dollar), we came to the conclusion that Australians still pay quite a bit more tax on the whole.

We get screwed on the prices of goods here and the proof is in the fact that prices don't fluctuate on imported electronic goods despite the fact that the Australian dollar often fluctuates by 20-30% of it's value within one year period.

Actually, that's a perfectly valid reason for the prices not fluxuating to meet overall trends in Austrailia - the manufacturers can't be guarenteed post price-cut that they won't see a 20-30% revenue cut in their own currency just a few months down the line.  It would be a severe impact to their Aussie market (even if that doesn't impact the whole much at all) if they tried to make parity with US prices and suddenly found the currency to be worth far less.