Who is richer?

“How much do your neighbors earn?”, asks us the headline, alluring, of ARA, to show us this statistic, from every year, of the per capita income municipality by municipality. Matadepera, Sant Just Desvern and Sant Cugat del Vallès, as every year, are those that have the most income per inhabitant, taking into account that the average is made with the chicken statistic: if I eat a chicken and you eat none, both of us have eaten half a chicken. In the case that we are offending the vegan collective, let's do it with other foods, but then, I say it now, the statistic won't come out right because I won't eat a whole plant-based protein.

The fact is that if we look at it on a large scale, knowing what everyone earns, when talking about wealth, is relevant, but if we look at it on a small and medium scale, it is not. When they tell you “you are what you eat” I smile and think not. That you are actually what you don't eat. And with this earnings thing it's the same. Are you what you earn? No. You are in reality what you don't spend.

A lady I know earns about a thousand euros in retirement. But she has her apartment paid off (and the pink card); therefore, she has no other expenses than electricity, water and food (which is a lot!). Another lady I know earns 2,500, but pays 1,200 in rent, 400 in self-employment taxes, a 400 car lease to go to work (she lives outside of Barcelona and has no public transport) and about 50 euros in gasoline per week. She pays for school canteen and extracurricular activities and clothes for the children. Electricity, water and food too. She earns more than the other, but the other is richer, in reality.

Living in Catalonia we pay much more for housing (also for coffee) than living in Extremadura. The salaries, however, are the same on one side and the other. What marks our wealth or poverty is the place where we live and how we get around.