The Wall Street Journal this week posted a great visualization of the makeup of the federal budget since 1965. Its conclusions are no surprise, but it’s important to be reminded from time to time of the seismic shifts that are defining the spending battle in the years to come:
- Since 1965, so-called “mandatory spending” ** (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) has risen from 6.14% of GDP to just under 20% in 2013, becoming along the way the single largest component of federal outlays.
- “Discretionary spending” has changed, too — while defense spending has traditionally dominated the category, domestic spending like cost related to implementing Obamacare has recently taken over.
You can see the Journal’s charts by visiting this link.
* Here at Ending Spending, we don’t like the terms “mandatory spending” and “discretionary spending”. No spending is truly mandatory - just another choice made along the way by our government.
