That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen

I read this very interesting article by Frederic Bastiat That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen . For those you who have not heard about Frederic Bastiat, he was a French economist, legislator and writer who championed free markets, limited government and privatization in his writings.
In the above mentioned article, Frederic Bastiat talks about a shopkeeper whose son breaks a window glass. People who are gathered offer the shopkeeper consolation by saying the glassmaker also has to make a living. If the glass was not broken, how would the glassmaker make a living. This is what Bastiat describes as "Things that are readily seen or visible to everybody". But on the other hand everybody ignores the fact that if the glass had not broken, the money that the shopkeeper paid to get it fixed would have been spent on something else i.e. buying something for himself. This is what Bastiat calls as "things that are not seen". Though both of these outcomes involve free flow of money and benefit society in one way or the other, but the consequences of both these actions are different. In the first instance, the shopkeeper spent money to replace the broken window and at the end of it has the window fixed. So the money is spent on something he already had. But in the second instance, the shopkeeper has the window and he spends the same money on buying something else. He makes better use of his money.
These concepts are so relevant even in todays world. Take for example of Hurricane Katrina and the talk about how the re-building New-Orleans would stimulate the growth of the economy and create thousands of new jobs. But people seem to forget that if the Hurricane had not hit New Orleans, the same money would have been used to better the existing infrastructure, improve schools etc. The Seen Not Seen analogy also holds true on wasteful government spending. The bad economist would see the government spending as good for the society, but a good economist would see the goverment spending as wasteful use of the taxpayers money. You can read more Frederic Bastiat writings at Frederic Bastiat Writings