Manhattan Contrarian ping
Francis Menton is always an excellent read. Thank you for posting his work.
For the masses, he is trying to explain envy, I believe. Envy is the basest of all sins, I expect, and defies logical understanding. If you could understand why a person would rather destroy something than have another person possess it, you could understand envy.
For the leadership, mankind is full of people who understand human psychology only enough to use it against others. It is their version of empathy. They play on this envy of the masses.
Neither group wants to work. They are perfect for each other. So, this situation is as old as Man.
Francis does ask, “Why not a tax?”, a few times. A tax would be too obvious to the masses. It does not appeal to their envy for them to realize they are paying for what they want.