WEEKLY EDITORIAL RECAP

FRIDAY

It's all 'free'

Despite warnings that a constantly expanding entitlement state cannot survive in the long term, new government statistics indicate the United States continues careening down that unsustainable path.

In 2010, USA Today reported Tuesday, a record 18.3 percent of the nation's total personal income was not actually income, at all. Instead, it was a payment from the government in some form or another.

In addition, the newspaper reported, real wages accounted for just 51 percent of all income in 2010, the lowest share recorded since the government began keeping track in 1929.

"You've got a larger and larger share of people paying less and less for the services provided by the federal government," Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, told CBS News. "The concern is that the majority can say, 'Let's have more benefits, spend more,' if they're not paying for it. It's 'free.' That's not a good thing to have."

THURSDAY

WINK, WINK

Local radio listeners may have heard recent ads accusing Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., of voting for budgets that will destroy health care for the elderly and favor the rich over American families. It's stock stuff, straight out of the most elementary Democratic Party playbook.

But even close listeners might not be able to determine who's responsible for the attack ads.

For all the talk on the left about the importance of disclosure when it comes to political speech, the operatives behind these spots don't seem too eager to identify themselves. Instead, we're told in the ad patter that the anti-Heck campaign is the work of some outfit called "House Majority PAC," whatever that is. The group is "one of four new Democratic independent-expenditure groups formed in the past month," CNN reports.

Fine. The more robust debate, the better. But next time you hear whining about how Republicans use third-party groups to get around campaign finance regulations, take it with a wink and a nod.