What concerns me most about Steemit is that a number of folks I respect (like you) all seem to be saying the same thing that I have believed for a month or so now. (I only started in late Oct so it took a while to sort things)
My humble observation is that a lot of folks are encouraging me to work hard, invest my time and money with the hope of making a few hundred, maybe thousands, of dollars, while the ones who are REALLY profiting from the Steemit platform do very little of what I'm encouraged to do. (There are a few to whom this does not apply.) The reason this exists is because of the rules inculcated into the various hard-forks, which are in effect the laws by which we all live. These laws allows a few to profit handsomely from OUR labors and little of their own.

I agree that whining and complaining is of little value but at the same time we all need to make informed decision on how we invest our time and money. We all have left day jobs because we decided that we were not being paid what we're worth, or were being taken advantage of, or both!
I believe much of our angst comes from seeing the tremendous potential of a platform like Steemit only to realize that it's already been co-opted by a few in power. It will be interesting to watch things unfold.