[crispyambulance]

    > these DINKs refuse to sacrifice anything materially
    > to have children. They have lots of adult toys and
    > other conveniences, but somehow can't find the
    > money to raise a child.

Well, some DINK's don't want children. Not everyone has to reproduce. There's many different factors involved here than material comfort.

Also, in many American cities, public school is totally out of the question (if you actually care about having well-educated children). Families either have to send their kids to elite private schools at ~20K/per year OR they have to move to somewhere on the periphery of the city where schools are good but you have other trade-offs in time or money. These aren't selfish materialistic concerns they're real obstacles that cause people to defer having children.

[geebee]

Elite private schools in SF and NY are closer to 40k/yr. Catholic schools tend to be much less, with elite high schools in the 20-25k range, though it’s not an exact substitution. Catholic schools teach Catholicism, and while students are not obliged to be catholic, they must attend religious services. The catholic 20k tuition schools also tend to be larger than independent elite privates, though many of them are reasonably elite as measured by sat scores and colleges attended.

This all supports your point, other than to say it’s even more expensive than you’ve indicated.