PROTESTORS II. While anti-war protestors in England try to maintain some momentum, with the help of the lefty press, Germans are protesting in big numbers over possible cuts in their welfare checks. The Associated Press reports: About 100,000 people took to the streets of Berlin on Saturday to demonstrate against Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's plans to trim Germany's generous welfare state, the biggest show of public opposition so far to his drive to revive Europe's largest economy I did not see any film about this on the news. I guess the Michael Jackson arrest is a better sell.

Nobody wants to get their check cut, and people that do not earn it are no exception. Who said democracy was great until the public learns they can vote themselves money from the public largesse. As France and Germany maintain large socialist programs, they are bumping into the ultimate reality. Someone has to pay the bill. It all comes down to taxes and who pays them. If you run out of people to tax, you must take over private businesses and run them for the benefit of the state, so the state can continue to make payments. But, when you do, those businesses always drop in profitability as the motivation to work and earn decreases.

Now that the city has torn down the projects across from my office building and sold the land to Radio Shack, one thing has changed. I noticed last week, as I was working on a project about 11 p. m., that I could no longer look across the street and notice that I was working late while they were sitting on the hoods of their cars drinking and smoking. It made me feel a little better.