The "Cost" of raising kids

http://www.parentsconnect.com/articles/cost_of_raising_kids.jhtml

I found this article published by the government to be quite laughable. First of all, because our tax monies is going towards paying multiple people to work on this project every year. Second of all because it's just crazy! According to this Chart we "should" be spending about $15,700 a year on baby E, for a grand total of $290K until she's 18. I think part of the reason that these numbers are a bit inflated is because it includes housing and transportation, but we always considered that a sunk cost because whether or not she existed we'd have a house and cars. THe one that really strikes me is food: $1630. What the heck are you feeding your baby that costs almost $2k a year. Even if you bought only Earth's best and organic everything it STILL won't cost you that much. Eesh. I'm just lazy and E eats whatever we're eating and whatever we have around the house (Her newest fave being tortilla chips). Anywho, just wanted to share this article.