Future federal mandatory spending

This graph from the Congression Budget Office puts future mandatory federal spending is perspective.

Mandatory...as in spending that's on automatic pilot, as in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Income Security (SSI, Earned Income Tax Credit, Food Stamps... )

By 2015, about 60% of the budget will be mandatory spending. That's looks to be almost double what it was in the 70's.

The Budget and Economic Outlook:
Fiscal Years 2006 to 2015

More resources: A Few Programs Drive Federal Spending, Federal Discretionary and Mandatory Spending and Federal Revenue and Spending: A Book of Charts.