Luxury yachts at "Boot Düsseldorf 2020"
Photo:Bernd Thissen / DPA
SPIEGEL: Congratulations, Mr. Lauterbach.
Lauterbach: What for?
SPIEGEL: With your salary as a professor in Potsdam, you are one of the top earners in Germany. The limit is currently 3529 euros net. Are you surprised?
Lauterbach: You are assuming a net income for a single household and not a family income with two children, right?
SPIEGEL: Exactly, the limit is 7,412 euros, at least if the children are under 14 years old.
Lauterbach: You see, it looks a little different then. But behind this calculation there is an old belief anyway: namely, that wealth in a society can be represented by the receipt of income at all.
SPIEGEL: You mean, you don't get really rich with your income?
To person
Wolfgang Lauterbach , 60, is a sociologist and teaches at the University of Potsdam. His areas of expertise: labor market, social structure analyzes and wealth research.
Lauterbach: Wealthy, yes, maybe that! But rich? Only in very few exceptional cases. Real wealth is only possible when I have wealth. There is a nice definition: Everyone who is gainfully employed has to face the mundane things of everyday life. And the moment they stop doing that, wealth collapses. Also the manager, also the well-paid lawyer: the moment they stop working, they have to sell the house, the boat and the two apartments in an emergency. The really wealthy is the one who is freed from the necessities of everyday life.
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