I don't understand the 15 dollar upvote on your own comment. I will make an exception for someone who is the foundation of steemit or someone who invested a lot in steem and has a tremendous amount of SP. I won't say that they are taking advantage because that path may be lucrative to some and is one way for steemit to grow. This whole situation has to be seen in a business model framework as well. The more your initial investment the more payout in the end.
This is disturbing to me only in the sense that newbies like me have a very difficult time reconciling their efforts and getting paid infractions of cents while there are posts from some routinely generating over a 1000 dollars.
That form of distribution is present in every aspect of life. The ones at the top don't necessarily do the best work but they understand and manipulate the laws of power. I am sure the system will be refined but it will always favor some more than others. I think that if a comment generates over a certain amount, it should be automatically associated with an upvote for the post.