This chart by Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy shows the long-term path of federal spending, isolating three of its largest components: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and interest on the debt. Using data from the Congressional Budget Office’s 2010 Long-Term Budget Outlook, this chart illustrates the harsh reality that if we do not deviate from our current path, the majority of future federal spending will be to finance the spending of the past.