Econintersect: The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) has released some infographics on the details of Federal spending in 2011. Here (below “Read more…”) we post the presentation on the mandatory spending by the government, spending that has been committed by prior legislation before the 2011 budget existed that also included discretionary spending. A discretionary spending infographic will be posted in a later article.
Mandatory spending has risen by 35% as a portion of GDP over the past twenty years:
Here is the CBO statement about mandatory spending:
The federal government spent $3.6 trillion in fiscal year 2011 (which ended on September 30, 2011). Mandatory spending totaled about $2.0 trillion, or 56 percent of all federal outlays. That category includes spending for entitlement programs and certain other payments to people, businesses, nonprofit institutions, and state and local governments. For the most part, those programs are governed by statutory rules that specify eligibility criteria and benefit amounts.
Here is the full infographic. Click (twice) on graphic for a larger image.
See another infographic posted yesterday on how government spends tax revenues.
Source: CBO
