A closer look
Forget buying a house or retiring comfortably; the ultimate luxury purchase in the modern economy is human reproduction. Thanks to out-of-control inflation, extortionate childcare fees, and a healthcare system that views patients as walking ATMs, the estimated cost to raise a child from birth to age 18 in the US has breached $300,000. And shockingly, that figure does not even include a single dime for college tuition. It is a grim macroeconomic reality that makes adopting a rescue dog look like the investment of the century.
