[littletimmy]

People don't have the kind of free will that you suggest.

As Arthur Schopenhauer once said, "man can do what he wants, but he cannot will what he wants." The point being made here is that poverty strikes at the will that is beyond your control, so it is meaningless to say the poor have responsibility for their condition.

[pdex]

For children it is true that they have no control over the income level which they are born into, but that changes in adulthood when one has autonomy. Adults capable of making decisions that can change the course of their lives, whether they do that or not depends on their choices.

[littletimmy]

> Adults capable of making decisions that can change the course of their lives

Excellent, I agree with you. The problem is that a brain raised on poverty makes people less capable of making good decisions. That's what we're concerned about.

[pdex]

Rather, a brain raised by parents who don't foster brain growth and reinforce bad decisions what we're concerned about. Poverty is incidental hence the correlation but not proven to be the cause.