One has to keep in mind that while wants are infinite, resources are not.

There are multitudes of things that would be nice to do -- you can always use a new museum or national park or historic site or extra holiday or whatever -- but not everything can have the same priority, any more than everyone can be above average (except in Lake Woebegon).

For example, France has a number of nice shiny things; the train system is beautiful, to mention only one.

France also has permanent 10% unemployment, 25% youth unemployment, perennially low economic growth, and so forth.

This is what happens when you think a bunch of burkes from the 'grand ecoles' can allocate capital more efficiently than the market. You get pyramids, big showy things, and reduce the system's overall efficiency.

Allied to the above, note also the ubiquity of the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Eg., laws intended to protect employees from arbitrary dismissal at the employer's whim weren't intended to prevent the creation of new jobs.

But they certainly have that effect. For every old job you protect, you kill several new ones; it's a process of sacrificing tomorrow to meet lobbying pressure today.