PBMs are likely to come under increasing pressure and disintermediation in the private sector.

FORBES: Super Committee Sets Up A Great Opportunity To Short Health Care

If a pencil and notepad are up for disintermediation, why not a few folks on Sand Hill Road?

FORBES: Why Mary Meeker's "Internet Trends" Presentation May Predict the End of The Venture Capital Industry

On the other hand, the proliferation of credit through new instruments and disintermediation has made the financial system more disorderly than ever.

FORBES: Recreating A Real Gold Standard

This was assured when the loan limits of FHA were raised above those of Fannie Mae causing the disintermediation out of Fannie Mae.

FORBES: FHA Will Cost Taxpayers $150 Billion

In developing Asia, the dominant banks fear losing their loan book to disintermediation, and governments have failed to prod the banks to develop capital-market alternatives, except in Hong Kong and Singapore.

ECONOMIST: But in Asia they will take time to build

The introduction of Internet-ready HD TVs in the next few years presents a major threat of disintermediation for TV operators (cable, satellite, and telecom companies), as consumers will be able to access high-quality online video directly through their HD TVs.

ENGADGET: Research affirms that DVR owners do indeed blaze by commercials

Rampant disintermediation did happen.

FORBES: Bubble Deflated, Social Media Will Now Change the World

But the diminishment of the Times-Picayune is also flavored with deep irony in an this era of digital disintermediation and newspaper defeat: the New Orleans daily heroically and effectively moved to the Internet to tell the story of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, providing an early model for online excellence.

FORBES: How the Times-Picayune Got the Internet Right and Still Lost the Battle of New Orleans