Being too poor to save for high quality things that don't need to be replaced as often is a tax within itself. That's part of why poverty is considered "cyclical".

There's a lot of good second hand things for very cheap available. See my other comment about coffee makers, for example.

What screws people without money is the expensive once off things that just always crop up. I have a decent job and I feel the burn, especially now with inflation, a once off surprise expensive can be deadly lately.

The accidental parking fines, the expensive medical bill, the new car tyre, the more expensive electricity etc. This IMO is more likely to create cyclical poverty than the ability to buy cheap things from Walmart(TM).

"Useless junk" like food? I don't think you have a clear picture of what people buy at Wal-mart.

Food is not useless junk though

Asian produced goods aren't cheap plastic junk; they're better than American made because they're better at doing it and have all the support and supply chains there.

You can't get something the quality of a smartphone or mirrorless camera assembled in the US for the quality you can in Thailand for any amount of money. Shenzhen is just better at electronics than we are.

Of course, America does produce some of the components going into them, just like Japan and Korea and the UK do.