Charts of the day: U.S. trades in innovation for entitlements

AEI's James Pethokoukis highlights a couple of interesting data points this week.  The first graphic demonstrates how U.S. government spending on entitlements now dwarfs defense spending as a percentage of GDP:

But national defense isn't the only thing falling victim to uncontrolled entitlement spending:

As a recent report from Third Way concluded, ”As the Baby Boomers enter retirement, entitlements will encroach upon an even greater portion of the federal dollars once reserved for building roads, educating kids, and paving the way for technological breakthroughs. Entitlements are a critical part of economic security, but without change, investments will all but dry up, threatening our economy’s ability to grow and create opportunity in the 21st century.”