Gettin' Paid

El Universal's editorial today says that the salary of a federal deputies in Mexico is 152,000 pesos a month, which, according my quick though less-than-100-percent-accurate mental exchange rate, amounts to about $150,000 per year. Along with substantial subsidies for health care ($6,000 a year) as well as a generous aguinaldo (the fantastic Christmas bonus that is mandated by Mexican law, which tosses another $8,000 or so on the heap), that's enough to live pretty well, especially if your main residence is not in Mexico City. Indeed, the salary alone amounts to about 18 times the average annual income for a Mexico, which the World Bank pegs at $8,340. In comparison, a rank-and-file US Representative makes $169,300 a year, less than four times the average American's earnings of $46,040 annually.