That's much too simplistic

"There's that mistaken belief that if you want to see somebody's past actions, you look at their present conditions. If you want to see their future condition, you look at their present actions. That's much too simplistic. When you look at their present condition, you're seeing only a few of their past actions. When you look at their present actions, you can see only a very vague, limited indication of what their future might be.

It's not that we have one karma account and that you're looking at the current running balance at any moment. The Buddha's image is of seeds planted in a field. We have many different seeds in our fields, some of which are ready to sprout right now, some of which will sprout in the future. Our present desires, our present cravings, are the things that help nurture certain seeds, help them to sprout a little bit earlier. So what you want to do is look at your desires. What are your desires right now? Where are your desires? What seeds are they watering? If you're trying to help someone else, what kind of desires do you want to inspire in them? You want to inspire skillful ones. And it’s the same in your own mind."
~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu