"Heck that's insane for wages as a waiter..."

Yes, but like I said, the cost of living is insane. Buying anything in Perth is insane, a house in the "bad suburbs" is still $300k+, and anything half decent is $500k+...groceries are insane, although when I lived to a town south of Perth, I was buying beef not by weight, but by units of "cow" ("I will take half a cow thanks"...was awesome that the abetiour was very close, and we had a chest freezer).

I am getting the feeling that things in the US are cheaper than Australia to be honest (talking to Arby3 and a few others), and yet, $50k in Australia is adequate and still allows some room for some luxuries. So why is $50k really not good enough?

Also, whilst also working and studying, I was also getting $10k a year from the government for studying (when I kept my hours low, so I didn't break the threshold). I should also look at the level of tax, because after a certain amount of earnings, people are taxed almost HALF of their income (48c for every dollar after X amount), but also the benefits do make it a nice place to live (Sorry, I am really homesick in the last week or so...REALLY homesick).

Problem in the states is: junk food, soda drinks and everything containing shittons of conservatives and sugar is dirt cheap.
Healthy food on the other hand, is not.
And I doubt full time waiters would make anything close to what you made, Wornstrum. I find it quite hard to believe myself that you were making 25 dollars a hour.

Then again, the American waitress won't be hungry or whatever, she'll be overweight in no time and obese before she even notices... if the malnutrition doesn't get her hospitalized first.

I'm not talking biological or all natural or any of that bogus, I'm talking vegetables (to some extend), fresh fish (although other sea foods, such as crustaceans, are dirt cheap when compared to prices here, but not everyone likes the idea of eating crustaceans) and, especially, fruit.
It is expensive enough as compared to packaged, conserved foods to the point where the people who do not make a lot of money will not buy it.

Plus there's a whole attitude issue towards vegetables and fruits that causes a lot of people to skip out on them.
The low minimum wages are not the sole reason for people not eating healthily.

>>Perth is a city where you get nothing special...seriously, it was almost impossible for me to find decent coconuts...<<

I got your coconuts right here

http://www.florida-coconuts.com/

>>I love shellfish!  Where do you live that it's cheaper than other fish? <<

probably right next to the mercury storage tanks