Having no luck with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's office, I tried Chuck Schumer's office to find the elusive Democratic plan for Social Security. I spoke with a wonderful staffer who was very forthright and frank about this issue. She pointed me to the Diamond-Orszag Plan, which, as explained to me, mimics the 1983 Greenspan Commission. (somebody might want to let the Democratic leader in the Senate know that he has a plan)

Because any fiscal problem means either increasing revenue (tax hikes) or decreasing expenditures (benefit cuts), these or a combination are the only options. Essentially, the Diamond-Orszag plan, and, if that is the basis for the Democratic alternative, the Democrats' Social Security plan is a combination of tax increases and benefit cuts. I suggested to Schumer's staffer that, rather than simply saying "no" to Republican plans, the Democrats ought to come out with their own.

Clearly, the Democrats do not want to have to defend tax hikes and benefit cuts, but she agreed that it would be the right thing to go public with their plan. There are no free lunches and an honest and candid discussion about the undesirable, but necessary, choices we have to make is critical. Let's hope her boss listens to her so that we can have an adult debate about this important issue.