Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I'm not mistaken, running own Lightning node would mean opening channels to every single merchant you want to trade with AND those same merchants would need to open a symmetric channel back to you with the same amount of locked funds. And then during the transaction this system would need magically solve traveling salesman problem per each transaction in the system, taking into account that after each completed tr…
you just need to open one channel to another node (better if well connected) and all your payments will be routed through that node. If you have multiple channels you have more routing alternatives and can choose the best one for every single payment.
Even in the most absurdly centralized scenario, the system is practically unusable as soon as there are more than a handful users. Or people just stop pretending and use custodian tokens, aka bullshit IOUs.