Answer:
Depends on which side of the $$ your on.
For the traveler & the cities served, hub & spoke means that non hub cities have almost NO direct flights with other non hub cities.
Hub & spoke means the flights tend to be fuller, meaning more money for the airline but less comfort for the traveler.
Fewer direct flights mean more time to get to a destination.
ie.. if you wait for the schedule there is probably one or two 4 hour direct flights a day from Atlanta to Phoenix. However, if you do hub & spoke, you can fly Delta hub Atlanta- Delta hub Salt lake city the same 4 hours wait for a connection and at least one hour the catch a regional jet down to Phoenix add another hour of flight time. Total time wheels up in Atlanta to On the ground in Phoenixx 6+ hours.
Most accidents in aviation happen on take off or during the approach to landing sequence. Hub & spoke actually increases the number of take offs & landings each day so some argument can be made that safety is in some ways diminished.