It is both to a certain extent. Bad circumstances cause unhealthy mindsets, but it's undeniable that these unhealthy mindsets aren't making poverty worse. That doesn't mean I'm lecturing anyone about personal responsibility. The solution is to design policy that empowers people rather than treats them as victims. Unfortunately, it seems like every politician who supports the former (e.g universal healthcare) also supports the latter (e.g. student loan cancellation).

Wait, why wouldn’t student loan cancellation be an empowerment of the poor? I thought the poor disproportionately suffered from shackles of student loans + didn’t finish degree, and the student loan payments are a major friction to breaking into middle class.

Expanding public university funding so that more people attend colleges without debt is empowering. Student loan forgiveness only rewards those who were unable to get value out of college. It's the same problem as a benefits cliff.

Right yeah if you want to help people but also punish them for needing help you are going to run into impossible contradictions like that.

It's interesting how you're framing not giving people something as a punishment.

GP never said anything like that. They identified faults in government arrangements as a contributing factor, they didn't say the people themselves were at fault.