You will find yourself with few allies on this topic.
You say that the trader shouldn't play a trader if he doesn't like being defenseless? Have you tried funding a ship with only missions? I don't mean a capital ship - even a bomber or fighter. Now let's remove the high-paying missions in the Omicrons, since almost no one has missions that good.
Make a bomber doing missions worth 50k each. Just like you expect people in Bretonia to do. 10k each, for Liberty.
EDIT: It's for your own good, too. You know what'll happen if you keep taking that attitude against traders and enemies? They'll log out whenever ESS is around instead of needing to deal with you. Or they'll silently die rather than pay you. Other factions and individuals have had that issue in the past and continue to now. And those negative reputations don't go away quickly. Or, in some cases, ever.
