Why Are So Many On Welfare

[Aractus]

Cigarettes cost about $5.50 a pack in Virginia, a state which grows a lot of tobacco, so therefore keeps the prices low. In Maryland, they're about $7.50 a pack.

We used to grow our own too. But the government decided it's better to import it and send the profit overseas.

I just filled my tank for $3.49 a gallon, and that was with my discount card saving me an additional $0.20/gal (original price $3.69/gallon). The conversion between liters and gallons puts the US rate around $1 a liter, slightly cheaper than in Australia.

Slightly? 40% is still a huge amount.

We are considering refinancing our mortgage because the interest rates have dipped below 3%, I want to say it's around 2.98% for a 15 year loan, substantially higher than the 0.25% rate you are citing, from where, incidentally? If you want to talk credit card rates, they tend to be around 15-18%, though some are considerably higher.
It's not as inexpensive as you think it is here.

My entire point was that America is cheaper. Your cash rate is 0.25%. Your average interest rate may be around 3%, ours is around 6% (compounded that's well more than double).