I finally figured it out. Watching today's news report on President Bush's budget plan and the appearance on Capitol Hill of Treasury Secretary John Snow and White House budget director Josh Bolten before various congressional committees, I figured out why New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has not offered his promised plan to fix Social Security.

Krugman hasn't come out with a plan because the Democrats haven't come out with a plan -- other than the clamoring by some to raise taxes (a "rollback" of the Bush tax cuts is the way they phrase it, but it feels conspicuously like raising taxes come April 15).

If Krugman were to outline a plan that was different than whatever the Democrats in Congress end up coming out with, then Krugman would either have to admit that their plan is better than his (something I don't believe his ego would allow), or criticize all, or selected aspects, of the Democrats' plan. The latter would be Krugman's first departure from Democrat orthodoxy in more than four years.

When Democrats come out with their plan, that's when Krugman will take a stand.