That is it right there ... cheap steel, no ability to stand up to sharpening & cutting and wont hold an edge. I have old knives from my mom and grandmother that they swore by. Problem was they sharpened them like an axe and they were constantly cutting them selves because they had to apply pressure ....
We now use those knives for work in the garden ... :)
If you spend under $150 per knife, probably poor quality ... just bought a the 2nd new set of Henkels knives for the wife after 15 years ... $1800 for the set. We do not use motor driven grinders for sharpening. We use a hand draw to clean the burrs and then true the edge. We still have the old set and they are at the deer camp still in good condition.
There is also the issue of using the wrong knife for the wrong purpose ... there are cleavers, paring, carving/slicing, boning, etc ... all have a purpose and function which impacts their performance.