I share some of your observations but I disagree with your implication that these people are poor primarily because they are lazy. The alternative is that they

I share some of your observations but I disagree with your implication that these people are poor primarily because they are lazy. The alternative is that they lack motivation because their lives are exhausting and debilitating. Maybe that sounds paradoxical, but there are at least a handful of studies (with a quick Googling, e.g. [0] [1]) which suggest being poor is a massive stressor that has an impact on mental and physical health. When someone has no money and no clear path for advancement in life, it's not hard to see why they might want to escape with games or movies or drugs. That won't make their long term situation better, but its something small they can control and feel good about in an otherwise bleak and chaotic world. It's also the case that people who've experienced success from working hard will have more motivation than those who haven't succeeded. To the latter group, the formula for success is theoretical rather than a lived experience--they haven't had positive reinforcement for past efforts so they're less motivated to try again in the future, even if that's suboptimal in their abstract model of the world. So ultimately, yes, a lot of poverty is the result of bad decisions, but that's an incomplete picture of the death spiral of poverty where a lack of money and options creates a mindset that encourages those decisions. [0] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/am-i-right/201210/the-effects-poverty-the-brain https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/am-i-right/201210/the-e... [1] http://www.urban.org/urban-wire/povertys-toll-mental-health http://www.urban.org/urban-wire/povertys-toll-mental-health