That doesn't disprove my statement. The "multiple competing market makers who are all profitable" all have extremely fast connections to the market. They compete on relatively equal footing speed-wise, and so other factors come into play. But everyone outside of the small group of players with that speed advantage will always be paying a tax to those who do. And good luck compensating for your lack of speed by out-predicting large teams of MIT-educated quants with unlimited technology budgets. As an individual investor, your only hope for profit is that market values of the stocks you invest in rise by more than the tax you have to pay to HFT's. You better buy and hold, because with every transaction, you're paying them an additional tax.

When market values are rising, these effects go unnoticed because everyone is generally making money. That doesn't make the tax we are paying to these HFT's any more fair or less damaging to the market.