Poverty = Laziness???!!!

Today, on the third looong day of meetings, we were asked to reflect on the following bible verses and determine what they were telling us about 'results'.
Prov. 6:9-11:
"How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest- and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man."
I was completely shocked!!
This is a totally american verse, and I said so. In the most prosperous country in the world, it's easy to think that poverty comes from laziness and blame people for their own problems. But we're foreigners in a strange land. And here, 60% of mexicans live in poverty - deep, crushing poverty. As in, they're living on less than $10/day. The avg. American annual family income is $37,000 - 3x the US poverty level. The avg. Mexican annual family income is $3700 - and that is earned through physical labor. It just seemed incredibly rude to imply that 'well, be sure to work hard so you don't get poor' when Mexicans are working much harder than North Americans and getting so much less for it. (and, they're telling this to church workers who are making ridiculously little for all the hard work we're expected to do)
Thankfully, the Lord held my tongue, and I tactfully stated my opposition to this verse and asked others to help open my eyes. (Baptists love that!) Here's the conclusion "we" eventually came to, and I'm asking for others' opinions on it:
'poverty' in this verse is not referring to money. it's more of a metaphor describing our entire lives. So, it's more like the verse Galatians 6:7 "A man reaps what he sows" or John 4:37 'One sows and another reaps' The idea being that we get out of life what we put into it. When we are merely trying to survive the day, at the end of the day, we don't feel richly blessed, we merely feel satisfied that we survived. Also, that it has to do with our spiritual life. If I'm going to church (or praying, studying the bible, etc.) just bc I feel I have to, I will not feel spiritually rich. Instead, if I'm going to church (etc.) as a small deposit in my spiritual health bank, then I can earn spiritual "interest" through the power of the Holy Spirit, and I will have more in that account than I put into it. Over time, I become rich only partly because of what I have done, but also because of the "interest" I've received from the Holy Spirit. But if I put nothing into it, then it can't grow. And that my "seed money" was a gift from the Holy Spirit. Like in the parable of the talents in Matt. 25:14-30: God gives us gifts, but we're expected to use them.
So, what do you think? Is the proverb showing a causation or a correlation? Is it about actual money or success or spiritual growth or what?