I have trouble believing that Steemit was ever intended as anything other than a capitalist structure that sought to cut out a certain amount of middlemen who stood between the people spending money on content, and those who produce it. No one who honestly believed that merit was more important than invested or accumulated monetary stake would have designed such a system. The alternative is that that those who designed the system, as well as those who maintain it, believe that the people who do the best out of capitalist free-market systems are in fact the best people and deserve to be winning at the expense of those they tread on in order to succeed. Neither view should be unfamiliar to those with an interest in the history of industrial relations.

@bifilarcoil have you two been chatting? LOL
but on a serious note - this is a huge issue and I'm SO happy to see conversations going on about this - sorry I missed the payout for this but regardless this is the noose around all our necks.. we need to escape it before it closes completely.
So many of us have this vision for Steemit as a place of sharing, equality and a well deserved payment for our hard work. I know I saw this as a place where I could finally get paid for doing what I love and I think if we get our great minds together (there ARE so many of us who are like minded in this) we can come up with some real solutions! I hope to hear this fight will continue!
Thank you @samueldouglas for shining a light into the dark corners of Steemit so we can all see it for what it is and make the necessary changes. I DO NOT support an oligarchy ! We call know trickle down economics is bullshit let's not allow it to damn up this platform.