Firefly&#x27;s &quot;Malcolm Reynolds&quot;, S1E10 &quot;War Stories&quot;:<p><pre><code>    It wasn&#x27;t a bad idea, Wash, but eliminating the middleman is never
    as simple as it sounds. ... &#x27;Bout 50% of the human race is middlemen,
    and they don&#x27;t take kindly to being eliminated.
</code></pre>
While it is obviously possible to bypass middlemen, people tend to react strongly against anything that appears to be threatening their livelihood.