I'm in Sirion, EC.
In the old system I could, with a looooong journey search for another realms to trade the food I bought. I could buy food for 100 gold and give it to a starving region of my realm for almost nothing. Now I can't. The only thing I can do is sit and wait until a noble with love in his heart decide that I can play my class.
And I admit that I was wrong. A difference of 1 gold is possible.
The banker is not useless. Is their job organize and distribute the food.
As well as is the job of the general coordinate the armies.
Council position are, for default, dependent from players decision. Players have the right to do whatever they want, as stated in the IR.
A class is not the same thing. Think about you as a warrior unable to fight ANYTHING, including monsters. Nothing. Zero. Unless other players agree that they will fight. Where is the fun?
For this reason I'm saying that the system is broken for traders. To the lords I think that it is good. Could be better, but its good. For trader it simply don't work because depend completely upon people, that in the majority, don't care for traders.
From what I can tell this is just a problem of EC not needing as much trade, not a function of the system itself. The system as far as anyone I've talked to on Atamara is working great for both traders and lords. Traders are consistently cashing in 5-10 gold per 100 bushels.
