Francois Hollande: Fairly Blind

Is it a coincidence that it was the French economist Frédéric Bastiat who wrote:

 "L'Etat c'est la grande fiction par laquelle tout le monde s'efforce de vivre aux dépens de tous les autres." (The state is the big illusion on which everybody tries to live at everybody else's expense.)

The illusion lies in the fact that government does not create anything and can at best only distribute wealth (minus administration costs). Usually the wealthy win at the expense of the poor: while the rich might pay higher income tax rates, they receive corporate subsidies, protective legislations and have more means to avoid taxes too. Yet the masses only see what is directly visible, thinking that taxing the rich can solve their problems. Such blindness inspired Bastiat to write his famous broken window parable.