Greater Good Accounting

"There will be a day when you will wish that you had done a little evil to do a greater good."
--Sybilla (Kingdom of Heaven)

Statists often use rationalize government programs using some variation of this mental accounting:

number of people helped by the program - number of people hurt by the program = net people helped

If the net is positive, then the program is judged to be a winner. If the net is negative, then the accounting rationale migrates toward the following:

gross number of people helped

If the gross is deemed > 0, then the program is deemed worthwhile. Never mind those who are hurt by the program.