That's one way to look at it, but I have a quality air compressor that is 30+ years old (replaced cylinders 4 years ago), an air impact that I've owned for over 20 years and it was used when I bought it, and sockets and wrenches that I've had for more than 20 years. I bought a lot of my "expensive" tools used and spent very little on them. The annualized cost on my air impact is about $1 a year and declining.

Early on I bought WEN and Performance Tool and other import junk and it's all been discarded for being broken or worn out. And there's little worse than having a cheap wrench round out or round off a particularly stubborn bolt when nothing but a hand tool will fit!