No, it's a massive statement, and I think you're being intellectually dishonest to assert it's not. The counterargument is also a huge statement, none of us are saying it's not.

The only reason the counterargument is slightly more palatable is because it conforms to Occam's Razor.

> because they consciously and continuously choose to be poor is ridiculous on its face

This is a blatant straw man. We are saying they don't make wise choices for a myriad of reasons, not that they intentionally choose to be poor.

Edit:

If you make bad choices in life the end result will be poverty. That doesn't mean you chose poverty consciously.