@cray: Your post is kinda all over the place, so I’ll refrain from answering further (and I do agree with your main point: Expensive isn’t necessarily better). But: Jingoism? Had to look that one up (apparently: extreme nationalism, marked by a hostile foreign policy), so let me just clarify that my post was in no way a call to invade the US to dismantle IBKR in favour of our most precious Swiss Banks. 
Besides, I believe the myth of safe(r) Swiss Banks is long gone, certainly after CS imploding last year.
I see you still dream of your potential 10-figure net worth 
? It’s a nice summary, I give you that, but us poor retail folks don’t have the option to buy a bank or a majority share in an actual exchange (and somehow improve the security of our assets that way). We can only choose between a licensed broker, a fully licensed bank, or a non-licensed third party. And as such, I uphold the practical advice of not choosing the non-licensed third party, app-only fintech.