America = Australia?

We've always said that, in the grand spectrum of national diversity that exists around the globe, Australia and the United States possess a large degree of similarity. Naturally, Australians find the this concept appalling, but when push comes to shove, we can back it up. And lately, the similarities have become even stronger. Looking for a catastrophic bushfire? Well it seems you're just as likely to find one in southern California as in the highlands of Victoria. Or perhaps you'd prefer a good drought? Well, the reservoirs of the good ol' ATL are apparently in even worse shape than those of Melbourne (but perhaps not as bad off as Brisbane). And with the Australian dollar rapidly gaining ground on the US dollar, it's only a matter of time before the two currencies are effectively indistinguishable (except for the fact that Australia has the gold coins and the plastic notes in fun colours). Australia's case for becoming the 51st state just got that much stronger (only thing left for Australia to do is cut its minimum wage in half, abandon national health care, let fundamentalists take control of governance, and distribute a few million handguns to the people).