tested transfer program Indeed, it is the largest transfer program in the United States It transfers income from working families to retired families Given that retired families are, on average, wealthier than working families, Social Security is a somewhat regressive program Other nonmeans tested transfer programs include Medicare, unemployment compensation, and programs that aid farmers Figure 15.4 "Federal Transfer Payment Spending" shows federal spending on means-tested and non-means-tested programs as a percentage of GDP, the total value of output, since 1962 As the chart suggests, the bulk of income redistribution efforts in the United States are non-means-tested programs Figure 15.4 Federal Transfer Payment Spending The chart shows federal means-tested and non-means-tested transfer payment spending as a percentage of GDP from 1962–2007 Source: Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2004–2013 (Jan., 2003), Table F-10p 157; thereafter January, 2008, Table F-10 with means-tested as medicaid plus income security and non-means tested everything else Attributed to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books/ Saylor.org 799