After reading lots of posts about the current and future possibilities of the SBD price, it got me thinking last night..."I wonder when @ned and @dantheman were putting the final touches on Steemit before they launched it were they thinking, 'Let's see how long it takes before people start calling for regulation and market manipulation?'

It didn't take too long.

At first, it was the flag war. "We must do something! Won't someone pleeeease think of the children?!?"

Afterwards (and still to today) it's been about raping the rewards pool. @haejin and his crew vs. @berniesanders and his crew. I've heard a few people beg for someone to step in and make it right. I don't know what the solution is to this one, but I believe the free market will eventually settle it.

The "NOW" mentality

The most recent example is the oddly high price of the SBD (STEEM backed dollar). There are those who are thinking in the now, who want to keep it the way it is. Accepting half of your post rewards as SBD and selling them on the open market at a (usually) 5x multiple. This makes your $10 post really worth $30, $5 in SP and $5 in SBD worth currently around $25. Minnows and dolphins seem to like this the most as it makes their small payouts worth much more. It also seems to be a major incentive to newer users who haven't been able to achieve the monetary goals they had aspired to.

The "Long Term" mentality

On the flip side, we have some whales and others thinking long term. They don't necessarily need the SBD to be so high, mainly (my guess) is that they don't need the funds that bad (please note: I am not saying that the whales aren't appreciating the extra value they get from their SBD, but in the long term they would rather have a stable SBD which would result in even bigger returns in the future should vendors accept SBD as payment). They are thinking long-term. A stable SBD that hovers around one USD is much more appealing to vendors who we are trying to get to accept the SBD as payment for their products or services.

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The way I've seen it, the vast majority of people are sending their SBD to an exchange almost immediately on payout. There are some people hoarding it who may not need the extra $ right now. But most people don't have that kind of whale money in their account to not sell their SBD.

Why is the SBD so high to begin with? I honestly can't say for certain. What I can say for certain though, is that the Free-Market is the end all be all of what people want. Simply because the Free-Market is made up of said people.

I believe it won't take very long for the SBD to come back down to earth. There is simply too much pressure on the selling side for it to stay at it's current rate.

STEEMIT to me is a window into how people accustomed to Authoritarianism will handle anarchy and a true Free-Market.

My 2 Steems worth is that we step back and let the market do its thing.

I would love to hear what you have to say regarding this matter. Let's get an @timcliff #discussion going on this.

Peace and Love my fellow Steemians! Long live STEEM!