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Figure 2 



Top Entitlements 



Mandatory spending programs account for more than half the federal 

 budget. Their sheer size makes the biggest of them tempting targets for 

 budget cutters, but the critical factor is how fast they grow. Medicaid and 

 Medicare combine size with an explosive growth rate that makes them the 

 two most serious budget problems in the short run. Social Security will 

 become a similar problem when the baby boomers begin to retire early in 

 the next century. The following are the top 12 entitlements, ranked by size. 

 (By fiscal year, dollar amounts in billions.) 



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