Institutional Plunder

Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
--The Beatles

Bastiat understood that people do not want to view themselves as thieves. They therefore legitimize a system for forcibly taking property from others, complete with euphemisms that deflect culpability, so that they do not have to face the psychic pain of knowing that they are engaging in criminal behavior.

While that institutional fantasy might last a while, it will certainly cease. If not before, then on Judgment Day.