[jasonmunro]

No exchange operator is doing "gods work" :) Seriously though, you are correct. Market makers are an integral part of how the markets function. Do they skim money from trades because they are better equipped to read the market at a given point in time? Absolutely. Do they also provide liquidity for the retail trader in a given moment to buy/sell shares? They definitely do. Market makers are not a new facet of trading systems, they are just a natural fit for HFT firms. Would it be better for your order of X shares of N company to go unfilled, or to pay .01 cents more per share to have it executed when you want?