It's hard to run a company, you have to call the shots. Steemit is a freemium service, it is offered free to us but it is costly to operate. There are no ads to generate income from unlike facebook and google. It is normal to do austerity measure in a market such as today. I am glad Steemit Inc is doing their best to keep the company afloat despite the challenges. We should all be grateful, it is still free up to this day.