Kiplinger - "A Stubborn U.S. Budget"

Here are the key transfer payments and their share of total federal spending:

Health care: 23.8% (13% for the general senior population, 7.8% for the poor and 3% for veterans).

Pensions: 22.2% (19% for Social Security recipients, 3.2% for federal civilian and military retirees combined).

Unemployment benefits: 2.8%.

Food stamps and other nutrition programs for the poor: 2.7%.

Housing subsidies for the poor: 1.7%.

Cash payments to the disabled poor: 1.3%.

Low-income tax credit (direct payment to the lowest earners): 1.2%.

Cash welfare for poor mothers with children: 0.8%.

College-tuition aid (not including GI bill): 0.5%.

Crop subsidies: 0.3%.

Much of this 57% continues on autopilot, as entitlements are not subject to freezing or trimming -- unless Congress changes the authorizing laws. The lobbies for every entitlement are immensely powerful, and they remind Congress that transfer payments are spent almost immediately, supporting consumer demand across the nation.

So what's the biggest area of discretionary spending? Military operations and hardware. At almost one-fifth (19.6%) of next year's budget, defense is the third-largest federal expenditure by function, after health care and pensions.