Swelling entitlements are the elephant in the room and the poor are losing them. Canada not too different.

Chart One: Entitlements without defense, interest and education, explain most US spending. It's the only sector where spending increases are proposed.  It's not just Obamacare because State spending is included.  American politicians are blind to entitlement, the elephant that's there but no one detects.

Chart Two and a shocker:  The poorest fifth of the population is losing out on those entitlements.  Sourced from powerlineblog.com  

For comparison, some Canadian Federal numbers.
 Intergovernmental transfer payments, not represented here,
 have a special place in the heart
of true Canadians.