RE: Creating Capital Gains with Appropriate Incentives vs. Discouraging Capital Gains by Profiteering: A Proposal
price of Steem is underperforming (we've dropped to the low 50s on Coinmarketcap) despite the fact that it's a superior currency
Are you doubting the power of the free market? Maybe it's right where it belongs... Maybe it's overvalued...
Why have rewards at all? To create incentive to produce quality content that markets Steem and potentiates capital gains for stakeholders.
This is why I have argued in the past that the price equilibrium is headed towards zero. There is very little incentive to produce a "quality product" that grows the base, most successful product is merely there to play the political game. Steem exists for the core userbase ("the community") to gain power and influence within the userbase ("the community") but such politics scares your ordinary content consumer. Whichs leads to...
The rewards pool has been gamed to the point that Steem is suffering from poor enough optics that we underperform the market.
Maximizing rewards for improving development and driving capital gains is what actual investors should want. It sure is what the market wants to see, as well as most everyone on Steem today.
I don't necessarily think that this is true. I think plenty of people on Steem are content with playing the political game or milking the system for profit. People tend to be self-interested before they care about more global ideas like the health of the network, long term sustainability, etc.
It is exactly self interest that causes them to consistently clamor for increase in the price of Steem, and once the connection is made between those features of the network and that source of capital gains, that self interest will drive clamor for those things that benefit us all.
No one with Steem wants the price to continue to fall. We are going to see more people leave right now as a result of this recent collapse of steem by ~20%. It will be those least committed to Steem, and least desirous of those very beneficial improvements you mentioned. As the community continues to fail to implement rational action to improve things, that will continue to be the result, and eventually only the most committed Steemers will be left to rule over the ashes. Sooner or later, rational action will be undertaken to induce capital gains, or the profiteers will move on to riper fruit, and then rational action will be undertaken absent their objections.
The sooner the better IMHO.
At that point, whenever it is reached, if it is reached, those folks will be faced with a decision. Whether it is worth it or not to try and reconstruct something with those "ashes" or whether or not it is no longer worth to them to continue the survival of the remaining community. They may be self-interested to quit. It might be rational to quit given certain circumstances. The effort to rebuild may be too much for the return to be worth it. At what point does the network collapse become too severe to be "worth" it to regrow is anyone's guess.
It may be awhile off, we might be past it. Who knows? We're in uncharted territory.
You are right. That's why I propose doing this now. The sooner the better, for all of us and our wallets. We yet demonstrably have a community that is intent on remaining a community, and that shows it's not yet too late, IMHO.
Time will tell.
Thanks!