It's hard to decide what salary to give them as French right-wing politicians are priceless.

"Why let our budgetary money go to waste? Let's give it to our beloved ministers"

No, I am not kidding. Note that I was speaking of a family of four, not a 'household' and today, not 1999. I can't find current figures broken down by family size for the city, but in 2004, in 2004 dollars, median family of four income in New York state was $67,564, in New Jersey it was $88,401, in Connecticut $88,276. census figures  So yes, I was off - 8,000 Euros is between a 1.3 and 1.9 median family of four income in the New York area, though searching more shows that in some cases families with up to 150% of local median size adjusted household income qualify for 'moderate income' status housing.  In any case I stand by the statement that it is absurd to consider 8,000 euros a month to be 'mega rich'. It's not even plain 'rich' around here, just standard upper middle class, which is nice but not quite the same thing.

a minister makes about four times as much as the average worker. Is that great pay or what!

If I am not mistaken, Sweden's top/bottom quintile ratio is around 4, one of the lowest in the developed world. Ministers getting four times average wage will earn shrugs elsewhere.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

BTW, are travel expenses part of the €8000?

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

This just shows how salaries have been skewed.

In the UK I'd consider middle class starts at around £30k/year, upper middle at around £80-£100k/year, and rich at £1M/year. MPs here get paid £50k (it may have gone up since the last time I looked) plus some expenses.

Very rich would be anyone worth over a billion, because that's the level at which you can buy absolutely anything for your own personal use.

But - these people amuse themselves by buying and selling companies, not everyday things. The difference between one billion and ten billion is the difference between a small and a medium sized corporation.

At that level it probably still rankles that no matter how rich someone is, they still can't afford to buy Microsoft, Exxon or Google in their entirety.