I bought Dragon Age Origins (PS3) new  for $35 dollars.  Then I bought the expansion awakening (PS3) new for $40.  What is wrong with this picture?
Please tell me that awakening has just as much content as origins.......because that is the only way I can see Bioware justifying this price point.  

Nope. It's got about 1/3 to 1/4 the content, depending on who you ask. My first playthrough of Origins: ~80 hours. My first playthrough of Awakening: ~20 hours. Not that I'm only factoring in the $ to hours ratio here, but I feel like the expansion pack standard of $30 might have been more apt.

When you say you got it for $35, was it on sale? I got the first when it was on sale for £25 and bought the expansion for the same price.
I don't have a problem with the price at all. If awakening is 20 odd hours then I think that's great value for money, better than most games. I mean sure technically I'm not getting the same value that I did from the first game, but I had already made a £15 saving in the first place.