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Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD): "I wouldn't consider myself rich"
Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFP
"I am rich, so terribly rich!": Such cheerful confessional courage as in the song of "Doctors" from 1986 is still the exception in Germany.
SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz also reacted cautiously when he was asked the following audience question on ARD: "How rich are you personally, Mr. Finance Minister?"
Scholz replied that he earned "quite well".
"I wouldn't consider myself rich."
When asked whether he would then count himself to the "upper middle class", the Vice Chancellor replied with a smile: "No. I do not earn as much money as the person who has qualified for it, and I do not have a fortune."
The swipe went to Friedrich Merz, who could become Scholz's main opponent in the race for chancellorship next year.
In an interview two years ago, the CDU politician attributed himself to the "upper middle class" and thus caused a lot of ridicule.
In fact, Merz earned high six-figure sums during his long political break as a business lawyer, chairman of the supervisory board of asset manager Blackrock in Germany and other supervisory board mandates.
If he has invested the money halfway cleverly, Merz should have an impressive fortune in the millions - and therefore also belong to the top ten percent in Germany from this point of view.
But what about Scholz?
The fact that he did not want to count himself to the upper middle class can be booked as a joke at Merz's expense.
What is interesting, however, is Scholz's statement that he does not consider himself rich.
Because Scholz is also one of the top earners in Germany.
As Federal Minister, according to the Federal Ministry of Finance, including supplements, he receives a monthly salary of around 15,500 euros.
And his wife Britta Ernst also earns above average: As Brandenburg's education minister, she receives around 14,000 euros a month.
Together, the childless couple have gross earnings of more than 30,000 euros per month.
Based on a study by the employer-financed Institute of the German Economy (IW) in Cologne, the SPD politician and his wife are considered "relatively rich".
In order to still belong to the upper middle, a couple without children can have a net income of a maximum of 6590 euros per month - a figure that the Scholzs should more than double.
But Scholz is not alone in underestimating how much richer he is compared to the average citizen.
Researchers at the University of Hanover found in a survey in 2016 that "the respondents couldn't even come close to determining their position on the income scale".
The principle that applied most of the time was that others are always rich.
So of course there are still many people who earn significantly more than Scholz.
For example, Scholz cannot even begin to compete with managers in business, although according to the IW analysis they both belong to the group of the "relatively rich": A Sparkasse boss earns an average of around 80,000 euros per month, a board member of a Dax Group even 290,000 euros.
The salary range among the wealthy in Germany is very large.
According to a definition by scientists at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), only those are considered rich who can live on their wealth alone.
Given the current low interest rates, this is the case for savings of around one million euros.
Apparently Scholz has not used the past few years to invest his money profitably and to build up a fortune.
In an interview with the "Bild" newspaper last year, the minister said: "I do what no investment advisor recommends: I only put my money in a savings account, i.e. even in the current account, and then I get how with everyone else, no interest. "
Scholz is unlikely to have a large fortune in the millions, but measured by income, the SPD politician is still rich.
Even if not quite as rich as Merz.
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