Why people don't buy craftsman anymore

The saying, "You get what you pay for"... Took a few years for it to sink in for me. Today I'm finding that it might not ring true in every case but it's still the better bet.
Way back when, the textile mill had "fixers' in weave room, spinning room, other. Supply room must have had a contract with Sears. The guy who ran supply room would always refer to Sears Catalog. If you moved up from weaver to loom fixer, they would hook you up with a predetermined group of tools you'll need for this job and deduct weekly from your pay for them. I worked in plant maintenance. There wasn't a predetermined list of tools for this job but the source was the same. Chromed 12-point sockets and chit from Craftsman. We cracked those things like eggs. I had to work with to more seasoned to learn something, Being on the highest hourly paid job in the plant says you can afford better tools. Ten years later, when I moved from the textile mill to other mechanical professions, I already had black impact grade 6-point sockets, ratchets, etc.. from Mac or Snap-on. No cheaper chit for me.
As for home air compressor, I made a good choice. My brother had a Sams club membership. They had a horizontal tank Sanborn black max for about 500. That was over 30 years ago. I changed the crankcase oil only once when the head gasket failed about 12 years ago. I had created an air powered vacuum for our above ground pool and the compressor can't keep up, runs nonstop, up to an hour and that could be what took out the OEM head gasket.
Today, I do wonder about the rust in that tank but... we sure got our moneys worth from it. If had bought Craftsman back then... who knows how many times I might have replaced it?
The Sony smart TV playing now (from Best Buy) that was much higher cost than anything Walmart sells, Its about 7 years old. The Curtis Mathis CRT before the Sony played for more than 12 years but it wasn't cheap either.