aussie consumers ripped off, overcharged..., page-2

Thanks for posting..

It's about time that someone said that the First Home Buyers Grant made housing less affordable. A great piece of socialist policy from John Howard there. He didn't give a rat's arse about housing affordability, it was all about enticing more people to take out mortgages as housing was entering a downturn.

As for retail, is it any wonder that we shop online and buy products from overseas? With the strong dollar we get a much better deal but even when the dollar was considerably lower I was still getting bargains that I would never have gotten buying from Australian retailers.

On a side note...

The very fact that the likes of Gerry Harvey et al. now think that it's time to have a discussion on GST applying to products bought online from overseas is absolutely diabolical. It would just be a broad tariff in disguise and if implemented would expose great hypocrisy on behalf of the government that rails against tariffs. Fair enough for Gerry to argue "buy Australian" but to argue for GST on online shopping imports just so that his imports can better compete - NO WAY!

Furthermore, give the fact that Gerry's sales mostly consist of large ticket items - bedding, large electrical appliances and furniture - what the hell is his problem? When was the last time you bought a double bed, plasma TV or washing machine or three piece lounge suite from overseas online. You would be crazy to for warranty purposes alone....