The Death Of The Middle Man

over 1 year ago

We are seeing things changing in a big way. There are a lot of things taking place which are changing many industries.

Technology is disrupting everything. .

Direct to consumer is the future. Friction is involved with so many layers of the economy that we will see great wealth distributed simply be removing the companies from the equation.

The death of the middle man is something that we all should celebrate. These are nothing more than rent seekers regardless of how many people defend them.

In this article we will go through a few of the major industries looking at disruption.

Source

Car Dealerships

This is something I wrote about in the past.

The automotive sector is going through a massive change. Electric vehicles certainly are changing the game. While that garners a great deal of attention, the real story is the death of the car dealership.

Many will find this hard to believe. However, we have to consider that Tesla and other newer manfacturers are going to deliver around 2 million vehicles this year, with none going through a dealership.

In 2022, it is estimates that California car dealerships lost in near $1 billion in revenue due to direct automotive sales.

This is going to keep growing. Tesla is about to enter the pickup truck market with the release of the Cybertruck. Even at a couple hundred thousand deliveries per year, that would have it as Top 5 in the sector, without a single unit sold through a dealership.

What could be even more disruptive is autonomous driving. Few understand how Robotaxis will alter everything. Since the technology is not available, many dismiss it. If it does some into being, we are going to see another disruption.

Financial Institutions

This is one that anyone who is in cryptocurrency understands.

Finance is going to have a makeover that is revolutionary. Fintech greatly disrupted aspects of the industry but it did not disrupt on a mass scale.

That is about to change.

Cryptocurrency, tied to blockchain, allows for major change to take place. This is where applications can replace companies. This can obviously drive down fees. It is similar to what online brokers did with commissions on stocks.

That was completely eliminated after being driven down over the past couple decades.

The first phase of decentralized finance (DeFi) is likely to be lending platforms. Individuals will be able ot use their digital assets as collateral, allowing for people to tap into their value they have.

It is something that could severely hinder the mortgage industry. Instead of using the property as collateral on the loan, other assets can be utilized for the capital to buy the house.

Here is just one example of how things are changing.

Media

This is an industry that changed a great deal already.

One of the things we saw was new intermediaries arise. We went from broadcast television to streaming, yet there are still corporations in control. There are also social media platforms that are centralized companies which allow for content creators to deliver their products.

All of this is a shifting of the industry but not disrupting the industry.

That will change also.

As mentioned in other articles, people like Glenn Beck and Tucker Carlson are already operating outside the old broadcast models. Some are starting their own media companies.

This will keep growing as software allows for more professional productions from individual or small groups. The domain of major media entities is under major threat.

Energy

This is one that takes a bit of project to see.

Renewable energy received a great deal of attention the last decade, much of it hype. That said, there is real transformation taking place. Over the next couple decades, this will grow. It is already happening at a rapid pace although the percentage is rather small compared to the totality.

Utilities tend to produce energy and distribute it. These are centralized institutions.

Over the next decade, smaller and more affordable options will be available to individuals and, more importantly, businesses. The latter is going to really aid the profitability as these entities find cheaper options from a cashflow perspective.

Tesla is against putting together a concept with its virtual power plants. This allows communities to basically become their own utility, without the need for the centralized entity. Of course, due to regulations, this is not an off-grid situation but, rather, a compliment.

Over time, this can change too.

Regulation is usually slow to catch up.