and know, your chances are slim to none of getting out by playing their game.

The steem system , as it stands is playing their game.

A reward pool that belongs to no one, and free for everyone to try and grab as much as they can - with the biggest stakeholders being able to grab more of the daily land grab that is the steem rewards pool.

I'm not citicizing your enthusiasm for steem, and the lucrative benefits it may hold in the future, but let's not pretend the ssytem is the one we are in.

Swap whales for central bankers, and minnows for laborers, and it's much clearer.
The game is built for the bigger to get bigger, and the smaller to scrabble for the scraps.

Again, that in and of itself is no issue - it has been this way for millennia, but pretending it is a free market,(as put forward) is incorrect.
A free market is a place of trade between owners of property.
The reward pool is no ones prooerty, ergo free market function cannot work.

It's a land grab / goldrush - not a market place.

(and this doesnt even bring into it the fact that the rewards are not your until the 7 day mark. This begs a very big philosophical question...

How can you ethically trade with property (steem in the rewards pool) that doesn't even belong to you?

Again, I'm not disagreeing with your optimism - I think it might be well founded, but I am pointing out that a system not based in ethical behavior, has never lasted.
(when all the steem has been produced, this model will change - but in the meantime - its a 'crypto land grab..')