<i>You can eliminate middlemen if you can show cost reductions for a player larger than the middleman.</i><p>You&#x27;d be surprised.  Weak decision-makers -- and they are legion -- fear what they don&#x27;t understand.  They&#x27;ll justify paying a more for a known entity than even entertain a small risk of chaos or disruption.<p>In a rational world, you&#x27;d be right.  We don&#x27;t live there, unfortunately.