The liberal argument that poor African Americans turn to rioting, looting and burning the cities they live in because they lack a proper education does not hold water, renowned economist Walter Williams tells
Newsmax TV.
The problem, he believes, is the proliferation of the welfare state.
"I would think that in the early 1900s, black people did not have as much education as they have today and they did not do the kind of things you see today," Williams, a professor at George Mason University, said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
Story continues below video.
Watch Newsmax TV on DirecTV Ch. 349, DISH Ch. 223 and Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system — Click Here Now
"The unemployment rate among black teenagers was less than that among white teenagers in 1948.
"One has to ask the question – how come things are much worse … in many black communities today than there was at a time when there were fewer opportunities and there was racial discrimination in our country."
And that question, he believes can be explained through the growth of welfare states.
"The moral failing among the American people is that the American people believe that government should use one American to serve the purposes of another whether it's for farm subsidies, business bail outs, welfare and food stamps.
"Or another way of putting it is that the average American thinks that one American has the right to live at the expense of some other American."
Williams — author of
"American Contempt for Liberty," published by Hoover Institution Press — said Americans now seem to have disdain for the nation's founding principles.
"In 1794, Congress appropriated $15,000 to help some French refugees. James Madison, the acknowledged father of the U.S. Constitution, stood on the floor of the House and … said that charities are no legitimate function of government," William said.
"Can you imagine what would happen to a presidential candidate saying the same thing today? The American people would run him out of town in a rail because they have contempt for the founding principles of our country."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.