If there was any doubt before, it can be set to rest now, The New York Times' columnist Paul Krugman is a socialist.

Krugman -- still lacking a Social Security plan of his own -- assails the president for suggesting what amounts to means-testing of the proverbial "safety net." Krugman charges the president for being insincere about wanting to protect this safety net for the poor because his tax breaks have benefited mainly the rich.

Let's ignore for a second that President Bush was criticized by The Wall Street Journal because his tax cuts removed hundreds of thousands of the very poor from the tax rolls altogether -- individuals the paper called "Lucky Duckies". The Journal earned Krugman's scorn for that same editorial.

Krugman is mixing tax policy and social insurance. Unless one is willing to use taxation as a means to redistribute wealth -- then any efforts to make sure the the lower economic classes don't become poverty-stricken in their old age is seen as insincere at best and hypocritical at worst by Krugman.