FACT CHECK TIME! The $45,000 increase in the overall cost of raising a child from 1960 to 2012 is based on the U.S. average for children in middle-income, husband-wife families.
You might be looking at the orange pieces of the pie while thinking, “Well, Lori, college got more expensive!” But check this out — this chart covers only K-12 education costs — the increasing cost of college does not even factor in. The report this comes from notes child care costs in 1960 “were negligible,” but now that cost takes a sizable piece of the pie because one parent really can’t just stay home anymore.
Also, just because sometimes you don’t know really great words that could help you describe your world — get involved with the word PLUTONOMY. A plutonomy is a system where the wealthiest class of society controls economic growth and wealth. I didn’t know it before I read this report either, and now I think about it a lot. Thanks to Investopedia for the definition of plutonomy that I liked the best.
