Are you saying that poor people could not have under-estimated inflation relative to their (very real) income gains and acquired debt that they could not, as it turns out, pay for? The point is that uncertainty increased, and many people made the wrong bet, e.g. your hourly wage went from $10 to $15, a 50% increase. You buy a car (yes, even poor people buy cars), but the used car market spiked in price, and the interest rates too, and besides, everything just got more expensive. And so, it turns out that your wage increase feels more like a $2/hr increase instead of a $5/hr increase, and you're stuck trying to pay off more car than you can actually afford.

Yes, I am fortunate enough to earn a middle-class income for my family. I grew up poor in a poor neighborhood with a lot of crime. Sometimes you can climb the ladder.