Buying votes is a bad thing, and we have the power to fight this: RED FLAG
Buying votes is a really bad thing for Steemit ecosystem.
People is supposed to use their Steem Power to upvote people FOR FREE.
Trying to cheat the system could sound useful to those that do not have a moral perception, but the result of their behaviour will be receiving red flags from other whales that want Steemit to continue growing.
I am just a little dolphin, but I have already started punishing with a red flag those who buy votes, and I hope that all the people that want Steemit to flourish will do the same!
In long term you are right.
Actually the real problem is the abusing self voting on comments. It could be necessary the self upvote (for example to put a comment in the top), but the abuse with the purpose for maximize the reward is really bad
luckily I didn't upvote myself in this post, but honestly I always used to, just because it was pre-selected