Can government create wealth?

If I could ask Obama to read just one book, I'd make it Henry Hazlitt's "Economics in One Lesson". The lesson itself is as follows:

The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.

The book then looks at common beliefs within economics and applies this lesson to them, pointing out simple fallibilities in these beliefs. Hazlitt shows time and again with very simple and understandable reasoning how government does more overall harm in the economic system by helping certain groups by taking away from other groups.

Obama is dead set on stimulating the economy. It is widely accepted that government can and should do this. This is Keynesian ideology to the max. It is as stupid as believing that you can cure a patient's cancer by making a blood transfer from right hand to left hand. No additional overall value is produced by taking money from some people and giving it to other people. It is just moving the money around. Which, in USA:s case, they don't have.

Government can't create wealth. Only private sector can create wealth. But people's trust in politicians and bureaucrats has never been as strong and blind as today.