Public social spending in the US and Australia

Matt Cowgill has posted some interesting graphs on Twitter relating to public social spending. These graphs are in response to Joe Hockey's call for cuts to welfare. As Matt Cowgill notes:

If you want to make big cuts to public social spending, they have to come from health or old age pensions.

The first graph shows Australian Government public social spending as a percentage of GDP. As you can see, health and old age pensions comprise the bulk of social spending.

(source https://twitter.com/#!/MattCowgill/status/192756388261412865/photo/1)

The second graph compares Australia's public social spending to that of other countries. Surprisingly, the United States is higher than Australia.

(Source https://twitter.com/MattCowgill/status/192756090742648834/photo/1)

The third graph compares Australia and the US on social spending. I think it's worth noting that the US spends a lot more on health than Australia even though we have universal cover in Australia, unlike the US.

(Source https://twitter.com/MattCowgill/status/192772438268977153/photo/1)

Update: Matt Cowgill has written an article Has Joe Hockey promised the end of the Australian safety net? including the above graphs.