Entitlements

I shouldn't have expected so much math as I wanted to see in 'Doing the Equality Math', because it basically got into a clash of philosophies and then went far off track. The essential quality of that thread was lost. What I really wanted, essentially, was some definition of Affirmative Action II, a budget, a schedule and an agenda. 

I sort of intended it to be a trap, and it did spring in exactly the default way I expected, which was basically getting Progressives to show that they couldn't give a budget, a schedule and an agenda if their lives depended on it - that they are invested it permanent insatiable revolution. 

So while that's not explicitly proven, why don't we give combatants a chance to spew about the arena of Entitlements - which is essentially the discretionary spending of a government that has decided long ago to appropriate more than is required for simple Constitutional defenses. And so to the questions.

What are American entitlements and what do they cost?

How are they different from those of other Western European nations? 

What is their effectiveness?

 UPDATE - Data

Download Statab2008_0458_FederalBudgetOutlaysByAgency1990To2