My Facebook feed today had a link to an article from last year by The Objective Standard on homicide statistics. The article looked at claims that if the murder rate of blacks was the same as that for whites, then the United States would have a very low murder rate which would rank 147th in the world. After dissecting the numbers the article’s author pointed out the cultural causes for the disparity in murder rates.

The first comment to the article made a claim that in the 1960s many people reasoned that the programs of The Great Society would lead to the destruction of the American family which has led to the development of the sub-culture mentioned the article (the “gangster” life). In a reply to this comment another reader gave the oft-heard claim that it is “rampant unregulated capitalism” which is the source of poverty and thus for all the ills outlined in the article.

Here is my response to this claim:

Where is this “unregulated capitalism” of which you speak? In America today we have a mixed economy not capitalism, and have never had completely unregulated capitalism in all the years we have existed as a nation. We came close in the late 19th century, a period of time when the standard of living of all Americans rose tremendously even while absorbing millions of immigrants from all over the world.

The single greatest cause of poverty in the United States today is government intervention into the economy at all levels. While the incentives provided by welfare programs to not work are part of it, the far greater role is played by regulations on business. To give just two examples; minimum wage laws price lower skilled, lower educated workers out of the job market, making them much more likely to become part of the sub-culture discussed in the article, while occupational licensing, such as needing a license to braid or wash hair among other nonsensical examples, make it almost impossible to start your own business.

If we had a truly unregulated capitalist system the welfare state, business regulations, other than to protect citizens against fraud and force, and any other government interventions into the economy would not exist. In such a system, more people would be able find jobs or start a business, escape poverty, and achieve, if not great wealth, economic freedom and security.