Essentially you are proving my point for me. The competitiveness among webmasters you refer to also applies to sponsor programs. So programs have to do everything they can to make thier webmasters as happy as possible. Five years ago this took nothing more than good ratios, rebills etc.. The landscape has changed quite a bit.
Look at how the TGP model has changed just in the past two years. Say you are a beginning submitter. Fat chance of getting enough free partner accounts to make a living from your submissions. TGP owners woke up a while ago and it's a trend that is only growing. Staying ahead of that curve is important.