None of the above.
You are right, essentially Orbital inclination cannot be less than the latitude of the launch site unless you are prepared to use a lot of fuel to change the plane of the orbit during launch / at some subsequent stage of "flight".
Re Payload, launching "to the East" makes maximum use of the Earths "spin" - once you launch into higher inclinations you reduce the amount of velocity given to your launcher by the Earth ( in extremis if you go for a retrograde launch - To the West; you are intially using fuel cancelling out the Earth's spin before you start imparting orbital velocity). The Shuttle used to be launched mainly into Low inclination orbits, giving max payload - the decision to now always launch into a 52 degree orbit to match that of the ISS has reduced the shuttles ability to lift heavy payloads to orbit.