The problem is that government gets in the way far too often.

Thomas Sowell states that the black family began to deteriorate rapidly in the decades after the expansion of the welfare state under LBJ.

Then there is the fact that the USA can't compete with the low labour costs in China. That's part of the reason for a drive toward automation - price controls such as minimum wage laws don't work and for businesses to automate faster, reduce employment costs, or shut down entirely Less opportunities to earn money coupled with an ever growing influx of people from low-trust societies is a breeding ground for crime.

And I haven't even touched on the financial shenanigans of the last century. Wilson and Nixon both sold out the West's future respectively by allowing the Federal Reserve to be the exclusive 'lender' and by removing the gold standard from the US, while still retaining position as the world's 'reserve currency'

This is literally a death by a thousand cuts.