Why do people say BTC has no middle man?

[Capitalism Prevails]

Don't the transactions have to be confirmed by the miners?

[NeedForBitcoin]

Middle man as in an agent with autonomy over the transaction. The network doesn't grant that to the miners.

[RodeoX]

Don't the transactions have to be confirmed by the miners?

Since anyone can DL the software and confirm transactions there is no true middleman. As opposed to a central authority, the peer to peer nature of it is what is meant by "no middleman". I suppose you could argue that we are all middlemen also?

[Jumpy]

There is not A middleman.

Instead, the system uses an interdependent network. No single person or entity controls the transaction, and since a 51% attack would be necessary to defeat the system, it holds that nobody is going to gouge your transaction with fees or regulate it. If you have ever used another online payment service, you will immediately appreciate the low transaction fees, as a percentage of even tiny transactions.